I’m working on a Telegram bot using Python and I need help with sending images. I want to be able to send pictures either from a file path on my computer or from a web URL when users make specific requests.
I found some example code but I’m pretty new to Python so I’m having trouble understanding how it works. The example shows how to create and send an image but I can’t figure out how to modify it for my needs.
Here’s what I found:
if message == '/photo': # command trigger
picture = Image.new('RGB', (256, 256))
color_base = random.randint(0, 16777215)
pixel_data = [color_base+x*y for x in range(256) for y in range(256)] # create sample picture
picture.putdata(pixel_data)
buffer = StringIO.StringIO()
picture.save(buffer, 'JPEG')
send_message(image=buffer.getvalue())
Can someone explain how to modify this to send actual image files instead of generating random ones? I would really appreciate any help with this.
That example you found is way too complicated for what you need. With Telegram bots, you’ve got two simple options depending on your library. If you’re using python-telegram-bot, it’s pretty straightforward. For local files, just create a file object and pass it to send_photo like bot.send_photo(chat_id=update.effective_chat.id, photo=open('image.jpg', 'rb')). Web URLs are even simpler - just pass the URL string directly, no downloading required. That StringIO buffer stuff is only necessary when you’re generating images in memory programmatically. That’s why it looks so convoluted. Don’t forget to add exception handling for missing files or network problems with URLs.
That code you found creates a synthetic image from scratch - that’s why it looks confusing. Sending actual files is way simpler. Just use send_photo() with a file path or URL. For local files, open them in binary mode: with open('path/to/image.jpg', 'rb') as photo: bot.send_photo(chat_id, photo) works perfectly. For web URLs, pass the URL string directly and Telegram handles the download. You only need the buffer approach when generating images in memory, which doesn’t sound like what you’re doing. Just make sure your bot has proper permissions and can access the image files.
honestly that code’s overkill for regular pics. just use bot.send_photo(chat_id, photo='image.jpg') for local files or pass a URL directly. you only need Image.new() when you’re creating images programmatically like that random color example. way easier than messing with buffers