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

# pnmtorle(1)

convert a Netpbm image file into an RLE image file.

## NAME

pnmtorle - convert a Netpbm image file into an RLE image file.

## SYNOPSIS

**pnmtorle**

\[**-header**\] \[**-verbose**\] \[**-alpha**\] \[**-outfile=***outfile*\] \[*pnmfile*\]

Minimum unique abbreviation of option is acceptable.  You may use double hyphens instead of single hyphen to denote options.  You may use white space in place of the equals sign to separate an option name from its value.

## DESCRIPTION

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

This program converts Netpbm image files into Utah RLE image files. You can include a transparency mask.  If the input is a multiple image file, the output consists of several concatenated RLE images.

*pnmfile* is the name of the Netpbm image input file.  If you don't specify this argument, input is from Standard Input.

The RLE file will contain either a three channel color image (24 bits) or a single channel grayscale image (8 bits) depending upon the type of Netpbm input.  If the Netpbm input is color, the RLE output is 3 channel 24 bit color.  If the Netpbm input is grayscale or black and white, the RLE output is single channel grayscale.

## OPTIONS

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

- **-verbose**

    This option will cause **pnmtorle** to operate in verbose mode.  The\
     program writes header information to Standard Error.  Actually, there is not\
     much header information stored in a Netpbm file, so this information is\
     minimal.

  Before Netpbm 10.98 (March 2022), this option is just **-v**.

- **-header**

  This option causes the program to dump the header of the Netpbm image to be Standard Error without converting the file.  It is equivalent to using the **-verbose** option except that no file conversion takes place.

  Before Netpbm 10.98 (March 2022), this option is just **-h**.

- **-alpha**

  This option causes **pnmtorle** to include a transparency channel in the output image.  The transparency channel is based on the image: Wherever a pixel is black, the corresponding transparency value is transparent. Everywhere else, the transparency value is fully opaque.

- **-outfile** *outfile*

  If you specify this option, **pnmtorle** writes the output to this file.  If *outfile* is **-** or you don't specify **-outfile**, **pnmtorle** writes the output to Standard Output.

  Before Netpbm 10.98 (March 2022), this option is just **-o**.and\
       must be separated from its value by a space, not an equal sign.

## EXAMPLES

```
   pnmtorle -verbose file.ppm -outfile=file.rle
```

While running in verbose mode, convert file.ppm to RLE format and store resulting data in file.rle.

```
   pnmtorle -header file.pgm
```

Dump the header information of the Netpbm file called file.pgm.

## SEE ALSO

[**rletopnm**(1)](/rletopnm/1.md)

## AUTHOR

```
Wes Barris,
Army High Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC)
Minnesota Supercomputer Center, Inc.
```

## 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/pnmtorle.html**