Piwigo.org

Claire · 2025-05-27 11:55:33

Hello Piwigo community!

As you probably know, since Piwigo version 15, we've started collecting anonymous data from Piwigo installations.

Nothing confidential: we don’t even know your Piwigo URL.

We’re only collecting general data that helps us better understand how you use Piwigo.

After a few months, we’re starting to get some interesting insights—so in full transparency, here’s a small selection we’d like to share with you!

- We currently count 38,869 Piwigo installations. This only includes installations that have been updated to version 15. We have NO idea how many Piwigo instances are out there in total—but we’re pretty sure it’s a lot more...

- Unsurprisingly, 94.87% of Piwigo installations run on Linux. The second most used OS is Windows, but these are most likely development machines (Piwigo is not officially supported in production on Windows).

- The most installed theme is Modus: it’s the default theme for 75% of installations since version 15. The second most popular, far behind, is Bootstrap Darkroom (9.14%), followed by Elegant (8.84%). That’s actually a great result for Bootstrap Darkroom, which isn’t even installed by default (unlike Elegant).

- Piwigo 15 is already managing close to 300 million files, totaling 631 TB of storage, 5.8 million albums, 3.1 million tags, over 500,000 users, and 56,000 administrators... pretty dizzying, right?

- The largest Piwigo installation hosts over 12 million photos. It’s not a competition, but it proves that Piwigo can handle very large volumes!

- But here’s the most interesting part. The whole point of these statistics is to help us improve Piwigo. And we’ve already uncovered a very useful insight. As you may know, Piwigo requires a graphics library to function. We recommend using ImageMagick, which allows for preview generation for various file types (PDF, HEIC, AI, PSD, TIF, TIFF…). There are two ways to use ImageMagick:
- Via command line, if your hosting allows it;
- Or via Imagick, a PHP extension that “wraps” ImageMagick—but cannot generate previews…

When analyzing the stats, we found that the distribution of installations by graphics library is as follows:

As you can see, 57.8% use Imagick, the PHP-embedded version. But not by choice—this is simply the default library… set by Piwigo. A pity, right?
So: we’ll be fixing that in Piwigo version 16, so that as many installations as possible use the command-line version of ImageMagick and benefit from all of its features. And all of this will happen without you needing to do anything!
This is just one unexpected example of what we can learn from anonymous stats. That was one of our goals—and it’s already a success. No doubt we’ll discover more interesting things in the future.

- One of the things we wanted to know was which plugins are actually being used in production. We know the number of downloads, but that doesn’t tell us which plugins are really active. Now we do. Here’s the top 15 most used plugins in “active” Piwigo installations:

- One last very interesting finding. When analyzing the version distribution across Piwigo installations, we noticed that while many of you updated to version 15, not all of you have installed the subsequent updates. Here's the version breakdown for Piwigo 15 installations. This only includes installations that have been “active” in the last 30 days, and excludes brand new setups.

So we see that 722 Piwigos are still running version 15.0.0. And that’s not good! The first release of a major version always comes with its share of bugs, and it’s essential to install each patch as they come out.
So if you’re reading this, go check if your Piwigo is up to date!

What do you think of this data? Are there questions you’d like us to answer next?

OHappyDay · 2025-05-28 13:34:20

Thanks, great. Would be interesting to see which PHP versions are actually in use. I guess there are still old versions out there (< 8), if this information can be collected from your anonymous data.

plg · 2025-05-28 13:35:48

Code:

MariaDB [piwigo_site]> select substr(php_version, 1, 3) as php_branch, count(*) from installs where piwigo_version like '15.%' group by php_branch order by php_branch asc;
+------------+----------+
| php_branch | count(*) |
+------------+----------+
| 5.6        |        2 |
| 7.0        |       97 |
| 7.1        |      249 |
| 7.2        |      455 |
| 7.3        |      891 |
| 7.4        |     5264 |
| 8.0        |     1554 |
| 8.1        |     7916 |
| 8.2        |     9579 |
| 8.3        |    12878 |
| 8.4        |      741 |
+------------+----------+
11 rows in set (0.105 sec)

Avariyca · 2025-05-29 08:51:56

The best.

Simon · 2025-05-29 11:11:14

Great insights, thanks!

How can I check whether my installation uses Imagick or Imagemagick, and if it uses imagick, how can I change it? My piwigo tells me that my graphics library is "ImageMagick ImageMagick 6.9.13-22".

plg · 2025-05-29 11:21:20

Simon wrote:
How can I check whether my installation uses Imagick or Imagemagick

When it uses ImageMagick, your page [Administration > Maintenance > Environment] says :

Graphics Library: External ImageMagick 6.9.11-60

The "External" is explicit. So you're not using it. You can force Piwigo to try "External ImageMagick" instead. In your local configuration (edit it with LocalFiles Editor), add :

Code:

$conf['graphics_library'] = 'ext_imagick';

Then go back to [Administration > Maintenance > Environment] and see if Piwigo was able to switch to "External ..."

Simon · 2025-05-29 11:51:59

It worked, now it says "External ImageMagick 6.9.13-22". Thanks a lot!

Troels Richter · 2025-05-30 05:35:59

Thanks for the transparancy

homdax · 2025-05-30 13:49:39

Great to see so many using Community. That one is kinda vital for my albums.

Mine: Graphics Library: ImageMagick ImageMagick 7.1.1-43

In my case most is from jpg, png and normal image files, so I do not really see the point in using something else, if I even do, also:

- ImageMagick
- Imagick
- ext_imagick

Bit confusing.

cdm · 2025-05-30 16:33:54

It would be useful to see a graph of number of images in installations, and of other file types such as PDF and MP4.

plg · 2025-05-30 16:51:54

cdm wrote:
It would be useful to see a graph of number of images in installations

I filter on what I consider "active" installations.

Code:

MariaDB [piwigo_site]> select
    if(nb_photos<1000, "(a) <1k", if(nb_photos<10000, "(b) 1k to 10k", if(nb_photos<100000, "(c) 10k to 100k", "(d) >100k"))) as nb_photos_range,
    count(*)
  from installs
    where last_contact_on > subdate(now(), interval 30 day) and nb_contacts > 1
      and nb_photos > 10
      and installed_on < subdate(now(), interval 6 month)
  group by nb_photos_range
;
+-----------------+----------+
| nb_photos_range | count(*) |
+-----------------+----------+
| (a) <1k         |     5213 | => 37%
| (b) 1k to 10k   |     5796 | => 41%
| (c) 10k to 100k |     2876 | => 20%
| (d) >100k       |      242 | => 2%
+-----------------+----------+
4 rows in set (0.091 sec)

I have chosen the ranges arbitrarily. Tell me if you want narrower ranges.

... and of other file types such as PDF and MP4.

I'm going to prepare that, it's a bit more complicated but we have the data.

henker · 2025-05-30 17:17:08

Sorry for my ignorance, but regarding

- Or via Imagick, a PHP extension that “wraps” ImageMagick—but cannot generate thumbnails…

- how are the thumbnails generated then, by libgd ? I used Imagick and sure have generated thumbnails ?

Is it really worth allowing the "exec" function for ext_imagick ? What are the benefits ?

plg · 2025-05-30 18:44:20

henker wrote:
- how are the thumbnails generated then, by libgd ? I used Imagick and sure have generated thumbnails ?

There is a mistake in the original message that I didn't catch. Imagick can generate thumbnails. What Imagick can't generate is "previews" for PDF or HEIC. I fixed the original message. Thank you for the report.

henker wrote:
Is it really worth allowing the "exec" function for ext_imagick ? What are the benefits ?

So, here we have a fight of "External ImageMagick" (ext_imagick) Vs "ImageMagick wrapped with PHP" (imagick).

1) ext_imagick is more optimised, should be faster for big files
2) ext_imagick uses its own memory, does not rely on PHP memory_limit
3) ext_imagick is the direct use, no need to have the "PHP wrapper" up-to-date. Sometimes it's better to talk directly with the creator and not with someone who sell what the creator has created.
4) imagick does not require the "exec" function, which is sometimes disabled by hosting providers
5) imagick does not need the command line ImageMagick to be installed, only the lib

In order to make the right choice, I give you this information: we have been forcing the use of ext_imagick on Piwigo.com for the last 15 years.

henker · 2025-05-30 19:07:33

Thanks for the explanation @plg !

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Announcement

#1 2025-05-27 11:55:33

Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

#2 2025-05-28 13:34:20

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

#3 2025-05-28 13:35:48

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

Code:

#4 2025-05-29 08:51:56

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

#5 2025-05-29 11:11:14

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

#6 2025-05-29 11:21:20

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

Simon wrote:

Code:

#7 2025-05-29 11:51:59

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

#8 2025-05-30 05:35:59

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

#9 2025-05-30 13:49:39

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

#10 2025-05-30 16:33:54

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

#11 2025-05-30 16:51:54

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

cdm wrote:

Code:

#12 2025-05-30 17:17:08

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

#13 2025-05-30 18:44:20

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

henker wrote:

henker wrote:

#14 2025-05-30 19:07:33

Re: Anonymous Piwigo Statistics: What They Reveal

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