An ultra fast cross-platform multiple screenshots module in pure python using ctypes

Very basic, it will grab one screen shot by monitor or a screen shot of all monitors and save it to a PNG file, Python 2.6/3.5 compatible & PEP8 compliant. It could be easily embedded into games and other softwares which require fast and plateforme optimized methods to grab screenshots.

MSS stands for Multiple ScreenShots.

It's under zlib licence.

API change

Warning: from the version 2.0.0 for specific system import, now you do as:

# MacOS X
from mss.darwin import MSS

# GNU/Linux
from mss.linux import MSS

# Microsoft Windows
from mss.windows import MSS

The second change is the split into several files. Each OS implementation is into a platform.system().py. For GNU/Linux, you will find the MSS class into the file "mss/linux.py".

This make life easier for contributors and reviewers.

Installation

You can install it with pip:

pip install --upgrade mss

Support

Legend:

• ⭐ fully functional (latest stable version Python)
• 🌟 fully functionnal (old version Python)
• ❓ no machine to test (reports needed 😃)

Python	GNU/Linux	MacOS X	Windows
3.5.1	⭐	❓	⭐
3.4.4	🌟	❓	🌟
3.3.6	🌟	❓	🌟
3.2.6	🌟	❓	🌟
3.1.5	🌟	❓	🌟
3.0.1	🌟	❓	🌟
2.7.11	⭐	⭐	⭐
2.6.9	🌟	🌟	🌟

Feel free to try MSS on a system we had not tested, and let report us by creating an issue.

Testing

You can try the MSS module directly from the console:

python tests.py

Instance the good class

So MSS can be used as simply as:

from mss import mss
with mss() as screenshotter:
    # ...

Or import the good one:

from mss.linux import MSS
with MSS() as screenshotter:
    # ...

Of course, you can use it the old way:

from mss import mss  # or from mss.linux import MSS as mss
screenshotter = mss()
# ...

Method save(output, screen, callback)

For each monitor, grab a screenshot and save it to a file.

Parameters:

output (str)
    The output filename.
    %d, if present, will be replaced by the monitor number.

screen (int)
    -1: grab one screenshot of all monitors
     0: grab one screenshot by monitor
     N: grab the screenshot of the monitor N

callback (def)
    In case where output already exists, call the defined callback
    function with output as parameter.
    If it returns True, then continue.
    Else ignores the monitor and switches to ne next.

This is a generator which returns created files.

Examples

One screenshot per monitor:

for filename in screenshotter.save():
    print(filename)

Screenshot of the monitor 1:

for filename in screenshotter.save(screen=1):
    print(filename)

Screenshot of the monitor 1, with callback:

def on_exists(fname):
    ''' Callback example when we try to overwrite an existing
        screenshot.
    '''

    from os import rename
    from os.path import isfile

    if isfile(fname):
        newfile = fname + '.old'
        print('{0} -> {1}'.format(fname, newfile))
        rename(fname, newfile)
    return True

for filename in screenshotter.save(screen=1, callback=on_exists):
    print(filename)

A screenshot to grab them all:

for filename in screenshotter.save(output='fullscreen-shot.png', screen=-1):
    print(filename)