Python SDK
Last updated: Jun-30-2025
The Cloudinary Python SDK provides simple, yet comprehensive image and video upload, transformation, optimization, and delivery capabilities through the Cloudinary APIs, that you can implement using code that integrates seamlessly with your existing Python application.
Most of the functionality provided by Cloudinary can be implemented using Python, regardless of your framework. However, some features are available only for Django.
How would you like to learn?
Resource | Description |
---|---|
Python quick start | Get up and running in five minutes with a walk through of installation, configuration, upload, management and transformations. |
Video tutorials | Watch tutorials relevant to your use cases, from getting started with the Python SDK, to uploading, transforming and analyzing your images and videos. |
Sample projects | Explore sample projects to see how to implement Cloudinary functionality such as upload and delivery with transformations. |
Cloudinary Python SDK GitHub repo | Explore the source code and see the CHANGELOG for details on all new features and fixes from previous versions. |
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Try the free Introduction to Cloudinary for Python Developers online course, where you can learn how to upload, manage, transform and optimize your digital assets. |
Install
-
Install Cloudinary's module using either easy_install or pip package management tools:
NoteCheck that you're using a supported version of Python. Add
cloudinary
to the list of INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py.
Configure
Include Cloudinary's Python classes in your code:
{% load cloudinary %}
Set required configuration parameters
You can set the required configuration parameters, cloud_name
, api_key
and api_secret
either using the CLOUDINARY_URL
environment variable, or using the config
method in your code.
To define the CLOUDINARY_URL
environment variable:
- Copy the API environment variable format from the API Keys page of the Cloudinary Console Settings.
- Replace
<your_api_key>
and<your_api_secret>
with your actual values. Your cloud name is already correctly included in the format.
For example:
Alternatively, you can use the config
method to set your cloud_name
, api_key
and api_secret
, for example:
- When writing your own applications, follow your organization's policy on storing secrets and don't expose your API secret.
- If you use a method that involves writing your environment variable to a file (e.g., using
.env
withpython-dotenv
), the file should be excluded from your version control system so as not to expose it publicly.
Set additional configuration parameters
In addition to the required configuration parameters, you can define a number of optional configuration parameters if relevant.
You can append configuration parameters, for example upload_prefix
and secure_distribution
, to the environment variable:
Or you can use the config
method in your code, for example:
urlAnalytics
configuration option. Learn more.cloudinary.config()
before importing the cloudinary.uploader
and cloudinary.api
classes:
Configuration video tutorials
The following tutorials can help you install and set up your SDK.
See more Python video tutorials.
Use
Once you've installed and configured the Python SDK, you can use it for:
- Uploading files to your product environment: You can upload any files, not only images and videos, set your own naming conventions and overwrite policies, moderate and tag your assets on upload, and much more. See example
- Transforming and optimizing images and videos: Keeping your original assets intact in your product environment, you can deliver different versions of your media - different sizes, formats, with effects and overlays, customized for your needs. See example
- Managing assets: Using methods from the Admin and Upload APIs, you can organize your assets, for example, list, rename and delete them, add tags and metadata and use advanced search capabilities. See example
Quick example: File upload
The following Python code uploads the dog.mp4
video to the asset folder pets
using the public_id, my_dog
. The video will overwrite the existing video if a video with that public_id already exists. When the video upload is complete, the specified notification URL will receive details about the uploaded media asset.
- Read the Upload guide to learn more about customizing uploads, using upload presets and more.
- See more examples of image and video upload using the Cloudinary Python library.
- Explore the Upload API reference to see all available methods and options.
Quick example: Transform and optimize
Take a look at the following transformation code and the image it delivers:

This relatively simple code performs all of the following on the original front_face.jpg image before delivering it:
- Crop to a 150x150 thumbnail using face-detection gravity to automatically determine the location for the crop
- Round the corners with a 20 pixel radius
- Apply a sepia effect
- Overlay the Cloudinary logo on the southeast corner of the image (with a slight offset). The logo is scaled down to a 50 pixel width, with increased brightness and partial transparency (opacity = 60%)
- Rotate the resulting image (including the overlay) by 10 degrees
- Convert and deliver the image in PNG format (the originally uploaded image was a JPG)
And here's the URL that would be included in the image tag that's automatically generated from the above code:
In a similar way, you can transform a video.
- Read the image and video transformation guides to learn about the different ways to transform your assets.
- See more examples of image and video transformations using the Cloudinary Python library.
- See all possible transformations in the Transformation URL API reference.
Quick example: Get details of a single asset
The following Python example uses the Admin API resource method to return details of the image with public ID cld-sample
:
Sample output:
- Check out the Image and Video asset management guide for all the different capabilities.
- Get an overview of asset management using the Python SDK.
- Select the
Python
tab in the Admin API and Upload API references to see example code snippets.
Sample projects
Take a look at the Python sample projects page to help you get started integrating Cloudinary into your Python application.
- Try out the Python SDK using the quick start.
- Learn more about uploading images and videos using the Python SDK.
- See examples of powerful image and video transformations using Python code
and see our image transformations and video transformation docs.
- Check out Cloudinary's asset management capabilities, for example, renaming and deleting assets, adding tags and metadata to assets, and searching for assets.
- Stay tuned for updates by following the Release Notes and the Cloudinary Blog.