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

# pamaddnoise(1)

add noise to a Netpbm image

## NAME

pamaddnoise - add noise to a Netpbm image

## SYNOPSIS

**pamaddnoise** { \[**-type** **gaussian**\]

\[**-sigma1** *value*\]

\[**-sigma2** *value*\] \| **-type**  **multiplicative\_gaussian**

\[**-mgsigma** *value*\] \| **-type** **impulse**

\[**-tolerance** *ratio*\] \| **-type**  **laplacian**

\[**-lsigma** *value*\] \| **-type**  **poisson**

\[**-lambda** *value*\] } \[**-seed** *int*\]

\[*netpbmfile*\]

## DESCRIPTION

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

**pamaddnoise** adds the specified noise type to a Netpbm image. **pamaddnoise** treats a PPM image as 3 independent planes, not as a plane of colors in a color space.

## OPTIONS

In addition to the options common to all programs based on libnetpbm (most notably **-quiet**, see \
  Common Options ⟨index.html#commonoptions⟩ ), **pamaddnoise** recognizes the following command line options:

- **-type** *noise\_type*

  Select type of noise by name.  The following noise types are available: gaussian, multiplicative\_gaussian, impulse, laplacian, poisson.  Only enough letters to be unique are required for the noise type option.  The default noise type is **gaussian**.

- **gaussian**

  To each sample value is added the value of a two Gaussian random variables.\
       The variance of one is independent of the sample value, while the variance\
       of the other is proportional to the sample value.  You control these\
       variances with options **-sigma1** and **-sigma2** (and can eliminate\
       either by setting the variance to 0).  The mean of the Gaussian\
       distributions is 0.

- **multiplicative\_gaussian**

  - **impulse**

  This is 'salt and pepper' noise.  Samples are changed randomly\
       to zero or full brightness or left alone.  This is also know as salt and\
       pepper noise, as in a grayscale picture, it adds white pixels and black\
       pixels, which look like salt and pepper, respectively.  Control this with\
       options **-tolerance** and **-salt**.

- **laplacian**

  - **poisson**

  - **-lambda** *value*

  This is valid only with **-type=poisson**.  It is the expected value of the Poisson distribution for a sample value of maximum intensity.  The expected value for other intensities is proportional; e.g. for half intensity, it is half this value.

  The default value is 12.

- **-lsigma** *value*

  This is meaningful only for laplacian noise.

  The default value is 10.0.

- **-mgsigma** *value*

  This is valid only for multiplicative gaussian noise.

  The default value is 0.5.

- **-seed** *int*

  This is the random number generator seed value.  Use this to get\
     repeatable results.

- **-sigma1** *value*

  This is valid only for gaussian noise.  It is the standard deviation\
     of the Gaussian random variable that is multiplied by the square root of\
     each sample value and added to that sample value.

      The default value is 4.0.

- **-sigma2** *value*

  This is valid only for gaussian noise.\
     It is the standard deviation of the Gaussian random variable that is\
     added directly to each sample value.

  The default value is 20.0.

- **-tolerance** *fraction*

  This is valid only for impulse noise.\
     *fraction* is the fraction of samples that are changed\
     in the output.  Whether each is changed to salt or pepper is controlled by\
     **-salt**.

  The default value is 0.10.

- **-salt=***fraction*

  *This is valid only for impulse noise.  fraction is the*\
       *fraction of the pixels that are changed that are changed to salt (maxval);*\
       *the rest are changed to pepper (0).*

  *The default is 0.5 (half salt, half pepper).*

  *This option was new in Netpbm 11.04 (September 2023).  Before that, the*\
     *noise is always half salt and half pepper.*

## REFERENCES

- •

  *"Adaptive Image Restoration in Signal-Dependent Noise"* *by R. Kasturi Institute for Electronic Science, Texas Tech University,* *1982*

- •

  *"Digital Image Processing Algorithms" by Ioannis Pitas,* *Prentice Hall, 1993 ISBN 0-13-145814-0*

## SEE ALSO

[**pgmnoise**(1)](/pgmnoise/1.md) *,* [**pgmmedian**(1)](/pgmmedian/1.md) *,* **pnm**(1) *,* **pam**(1) *,*

## HISTORY

**pamaddnoise** *was added to Netpbm in Version 10.29 (August 2005).* *It had been distributed by Mike Burns via his own web site before that* *(and continued to be so).*

*Burns' version, and the one in Netpbm 10.29, was called* **pnmaddnoise** *and worked only on PNM images.  In Netpbm 10.30, it was converted to handle* *PAM images and renamed to* **pamaddnoise***.*

## AUTHOR

*Copyright (C) 1995 by Mike Burns \<burns@cac.psu.edu\>*

## 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/pamaddnoise.html**