---
name: "fstopgm"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "netpbm"
version: "10.86.51-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/fstopgm"
---

# fstopgm(1)

convert a Usenix FaceSaver(tm) file into a PGM image

## NAME

fstopgm - convert a Usenix FaceSaver(tm) file into a PGM image

## SYNOPSIS

**fstopgm** \[*fsfile*\]

## DESCRIPTION

This program is part of **Netpbm**(1) .

**fstopgm** reads a Usenix FaceSaver(tm) file as input and produces a PGM image as output.

FaceSaver(tm) files sometimes have rectangular pixels.  While **fstopgm** won't re-scale them into square pixels for you, it will give you the precise **pamscale** command that will do the job. Because of this, reading a FaceSaver(tm) image is a two-step process. First you do:

```
  fstopgm > /dev/null
```

This will tell you whether you need to use **pamscale.**

Then use one of the following pipelines:

```
  fstopgm | pnmnorm
  fstopgm | pamscale -whatever | pnmnorm
```

To go to PBM, you want something more like one of these:

```
  fstopgm | pamenlarge 3 | pnmnorm | pamditherbw
  fstopgm | pamenlarge 3 | pamscale <whatever> | pnmnorm | pamditherbw
```

You want to enlarge when going to a bitmap because otherwise you lose information; but enlarging by more than 3 does not look good.

FaceSaver is a registered trademark of Metron Computerware Ltd. of Oakland, CA.

## OPTIONS

There are no command line options defined specifically for **fstopgm**, but it recognizes the options common to all programs based on libnetpbm (See \
  Common Options ⟨index.html#commonoptions⟩ .)

## SEE ALSO

[**pgmtofs**(1)](/pgmtofs/1.md) , **pgm**(1) , [**pnmnorm**(1)](/pnmnorm/1.md) , [**pamenlarge**(1)](/pamenlarge/1.md) , [**pamscale**(1)](/pamscale/1.md) , [**pamditherbw**(1)](/pamditherbw/1.md)

## AUTHOR

Copyright (C) 1989 by Jef Poskanzer.

## DOCUMENT SOURCE

This manual page was generated by the Netpbm tool 'makeman' from HTML source.  The master documentation is at

-

  **http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/fstopgm.html**