Plt.show shows full graph but savefig is cropping the image

Question

My code is succesfully saving images to file, but it is cropping important details from the right hand side. Answers exist for fixing this problem when it arises for plt.show, but it is the savefig command that is incorrectly producing the graph in this example. How can this be fixed?

The relevant sample of my code:

import glob
import os
for file in glob.glob("*.oax"):
    try:
        spc_file = open(file, 'r').read()
        newName = file[6:8] + '-' + file[4:6] + '-' + file[0:4] + ' ' + file[8:12] +  ' UTC (Observed) - No Sea Breeze Day'
        plt.title(newName, fontsize=12, loc='left')
        plt.savefig('X:/' + newName + '.png')        
        plt.show()
    except Exception:
        pass

And the images (top is plt.show and bottom is file produced from savefig:

Can you make a simple example that others can test, preferably without having to download extra data and packages? — Neapolitan, May 25 '16 at 04:57
@Neapolitan. That's a bit beyond my skill set. The answer provided below suggests that there is a generic solution for this problem, independent of the data. — Joss Kirk, May 25 '16 at 05:29
@Neopolitan I don't know how the problem has arisen, so I'm not sure how to produce simpler data that could replicate it. — Joss Kirk, May 25 '16 at 05:40

score 254 · Accepted Answer · answered May 25 '16 at 04:59

254

You may try

plt.savefig('X:/' + newName + '.png', bbox_inches='tight')

Or you may define figure size like

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(9, 11))
...
plt.savefig(filename, bbox_inches = 'tight')

answered May 25 '16 at 04:59

Serenity

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This has to be the default option, bbox_inches='tight'. I used it in conjunction with a high dpi value and it worked wonderfully well. – Deepak V Feb 08 '19 at 05:46

score 7 · Answer 2 · edited May 03 '21 at 12:21

7

As described in the documentation you may also try:

plt.tight_layout()

edited May 03 '21 at 12:21

Jurgen Strydom

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answered May 03 '21 at 11:48

saty035

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It works for me, but it changes the ratio width/height. Any idea how to also preserve the ratio? – Profiterole Jun 29 '21 at 17:51
Yes, you can set the ratios accordingly by using "plt.figure(figsize=(9, 3))" ;) – saty035 Jul 20 '21 at 16:12

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 03 '22 at 14:05

0

Another very easy solution is saving a plot to a .pdf format. This have worked for me many times when bbox_inches = 'tight'and plt.tight_layout() didn't help.

Syntax is just:

plt.savefig('X:/' + newName + '.pdf')

answered May 03 '22 at 14:05

MDDawid1

11
5

Plt.show shows full graph but savefig is cropping the image

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