Click here to Skip to main content
15,867,488 members
Articles / Desktop Programming / Windows Forms
Tip/Trick

Count Number of Unique Colors in an Image

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
5.00/5 (8 votes)
19 Feb 2011CPOL 50.7K   2   11
Determine the number of unique colors in an image
Got an image? Want to know how many unique colors are contained in it?

C#
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
public static int CountImageColors(string fileName)
{
    int count = 0;
    HashSet<Color> colors = new HashSet<Color>();
    Bitmap bmp = null;

    if (File.Exists(fileName))
    {
        try
        {
            bmp = new Bitmap(fileName);
            if (bmp != null)
            {
                for (int y = 0; y < bmp.Size.Height; y++)
                {
                    for (int x = 0; x < bmp.Size.Width; x++)
                    {
                        colors.Add(bmp.GetPixel(x, y));
                    }
                }
                count = colors.Count;
            }
        }
        catch 
        {
            throw;
        }
        finally
        {
            colors.Clear();
            bmp.Dispose();
        }
    }
    return count;
}


Since a HashSet doesn't allow duplicate keys, we use the color as the key, and any duplicates will not be added. This will result in a collection of unique colors, and we use the Count property to get that value.

Keep in mind the example provided above is merely illustrating the technique of using a HashSet to keep track of unique colors, and is not necessarily a reasonable implementation of the method itself in your case.

It may not be the fastest way to do it, but it works great, and the general technique illustrated above can be used in pretty much any language that supports a HashSet-style collection.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer (Senior) Paddedwall Software
United States United States
I've been paid as a programmer since 1982 with experience in Pascal, and C++ (both self-taught), and began writing Windows programs in 1991 using Visual C++ and MFC. In the 2nd half of 2007, I started writing C# Windows Forms and ASP.Net applications, and have since done WPF, Silverlight, WCF, web services, and Windows services.

My weakest point is that my moments of clarity are too brief to hold a meaningful conversation that requires more than 30 seconds to complete. Thankfully, grunts of agreement are all that is required to conduct most discussions without committing to any particular belief system.

Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionI need to find the total no of dot images in the image file of the same color.How it can be possible..?? Pin
Member 1055062226-Jan-14 21:46
Member 1055062226-Jan-14 21:46 
AnswerRe: I need to find the total no of dot images in the image file of the same color.How it can be possible..?? Pin
#realJSOP21-Jul-14 4:36
mve#realJSOP21-Jul-14 4:36 
QuestionColor Counting - GetPixel is slow, so... Pin
jma24007-Mar-13 20:00
jma24007-Mar-13 20:00 
AnswerRe: Color Counting - GetPixel is slow, so... Pin
#realJSOP7-Mar-13 23:34
mve#realJSOP7-Mar-13 23:34 
GeneralRe: My mistake then - I didn't dive into the docs for HashSet de... Pin
Chris Maunder21-Feb-11 15:11
cofounderChris Maunder21-Feb-11 15:11 
GeneralReason for my vote of 5 I like this concept and solution, th... Pin
DrABELL22-Feb-11 16:49
DrABELL22-Feb-11 16:49 
GeneralReason for my vote of 5 I like it Pin
RaviRanjanKr19-Feb-11 8:28
professionalRaviRanjanKr19-Feb-11 8:28 
GeneralMost images are going to have many, many repeated colours so... Pin
Chris Maunder18-Feb-11 17:49
cofounderChris Maunder18-Feb-11 17:49 
GeneralRe: I don't understand your question. The try/catch was for the ... Pin
#realJSOP19-Feb-11 0:56
mve#realJSOP19-Feb-11 0:56 
GeneralReason for my vote of 5 Thanks for Sharing. Pin
linuxjr18-Feb-11 9:46
professionallinuxjr18-Feb-11 9:46 
GeneralReason for my vote of 5 Sweet. Pin
Hans Dietrich18-Feb-11 6:51
mentorHans Dietrich18-Feb-11 6:51 

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.