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dcmquant(1)			   OFFIS DCMTK			     dcmquant(1)

NAME
     dcmquant - Convert DICOM color images to palette color

SYNOPSIS
     dcmquant [options] dcmfile-in dcmfile-out

DESCRIPTION
     The  dcmquant  utility  reads a DICOM color image, computes a palette color
     look-up table of the desired size for this image (based on the  median  cut
     algorithm	published  by Paul Heckbert) and converts the color image into a
     DICOM palette color image.

PARAMETERS
     dcmfile-in   DICOM input filename to be converted ("-" for stdin)

     dcmfile-out  DICOM output filename to be written ("-" for stdout)

OPTIONS
   general options
       -h   --help
	      print this help text and exit

	    --version
	      print version information and exit

	    --arguments
	      print expanded command line arguments

       -q   --quiet
	      quiet mode, print no warnings and errors

       -v   --verbose
	      verbose mode, print processing details

       -d   --debug
	      debug mode, print debug information

       -ll  --log-level  [l]evel: string constant
	      (fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace)
	      use level l for the logger

       -lc  --log-config  [f]ilename: string
	      use config file f for the logger

   input options
     input file format:

       +f   --read-file
	      read file format or data set (default)

       +fo  --read-file-only
	      read file format only

       -f   --read-dataset
	      read data set without file meta information

     input transfer syntax:

       -t=  --read-xfer-auto
	      use TS recognition (default)

       -td  --read-xfer-detect
	      ignore TS specified in the file meta header

       -te  --read-xfer-little
	      read with explicit VR little endian TS

       -tb  --read-xfer-big
	      read with explicit VR big endian TS

       -ti  --read-xfer-implicit
	      read with implicit VR little endian TS

   image processing and encoding options
     frame selection:

       +F   --frame  [n]umber: integer
	      select specified frame

       +Fa  --all-frames
	      select all frames (default)

     compatibility:

       +Mp  --accept-palettes
	      accept incorrect palette attribute tags
	      (0028,111x) and (0028,121x)

     median cut dimension selection:

       +Dr  --mc-dimension-rgb
	      max dimension from RGB range (default)

       +Dl  --mc-dimension-lum
	      max dimension from luminance

     median cut representative color selection:

       +Cb  --mc-color-avgbox
	      average colors in box (default)

       +Cp  --mc-color-avgpixel
	      average pixels in box

       +Cc  --mc-color-center
	      select center of box

     color palette value representation:

       +pw  --write-ow
	      write Palette LUT as OW (default)

       +pu  --write-us
	      write Palette LUT as US (retired)

     color palette creation:

       +pe  --lut-entries-word
	      write Palette LUT with 16-bit entries

       +pf  --floyd-steinberg
	      use Floyd-Steinberg error diffusion

       +pc  --colors  number of colors: 2..65536 (default 256)
	      number of colors to quantize to

     SOP Class UID:

       +cd  --class-default
	      keep SOP Class UID (default)

       +cs  --class-sc
	      convert to Secondary Capture Image
	      (implies --uid-always)

     SOP Instance UID:

       +ua  --uid-always
	      always assign new UID (default)

       +un  --uid-never
	      never assign new UID

   output options
     output file format:

       +F   --write-file
	      write file format (default)

       -F   --write-dataset
	      write data set without file meta information

     output transfer syntax:

       +t=  --write-xfer-same
	      write with same TS as input (default)

       +te  --write-xfer-little
	      write with explicit VR little endian TS

       +tb  --write-xfer-big
	      write with explicit VR big endian TS

       +ti  --write-xfer-implicit
	      write with implicit VR little endian TS

     post-1993 value representations:

       +u   --enable-new-vr
	      enable support for new VRs (UN/UT) (default)

       -u   --disable-new-vr
	      disable support for new VRs, convert to OB

     group length encoding:

       +g=  --group-length-recalc
	      recalculate group lengths if present (default)

       +g   --group-length-create
	      always write with group length elements

       -g   --group-length-remove
	      always write without group length elements

     length encoding in sequences and items:

       +e   --length-explicit
	      write with explicit lengths (default)

       -e   --length-undefined
	      write with undefined lengths

     data set trailing padding (not with --write-dataset):

       -p=  --padding-retain
	      do not change padding
	      (default if not --write-dataset)

       -p   --padding-off
	      no padding (implicit if --write-dataset)

       +p   --padding-create  [f]ile-pad [i]tem-pad: integer
	      align file on multiple of f bytes and items on
	      multiple of i bytes

LOGGING
     The level of logging output of the various command line tools and	underly-
     ing  libraries  can  be  specified by the user. By default, only errors and
     warnings are written to the standard error stream. Using  option  --verbose
     also  informational  messages  like processing details are reported. Option
     --debug can be used to get more details on the internal activity, e.g.  for
     debugging	purposes.  Other  logging  levels  can	be selected using option
     --log-level. In --quiet mode only fatal errors are reported. In  such  very
     severe  error  events, the application will usually terminate. For more de-
     tails on the different logging levels, see documentation of module 'oflog'.

     In case the logging output should be written to file (optionally with  log-
     file  rotation),  to syslog (Unix) or the event log (Windows) option --log-
     config can be used. This configuration file also allows for directing  only
     certain  messages	to  a particular output stream and for filtering certain
     messages based on the module or application where they  are  generated.  An
     example configuration file is provided in <etcdir>/logger.cfg.

COMMAND LINE
     All  command  line  tools use the following notation for parameters: square
     brackets enclose optional values (0-1), three trailing dots  indicate  that
     multiple  values are allowed (1-n), a combination of both means 0 to n val-
     ues.

     Command line options are distinguished from parameters by a leading '+'  or
     '-' sign, respectively. Usually, order and position of command line options
     are  arbitrary (i.e. they can appear anywhere). However, if options are mu-
     tually exclusive the rightmost appearance is used. This  behavior	conforms
     to the standard evaluation rules of common Unix shells.

     In  addition,  one or more command files can be specified using an '@' sign
     as a prefix to the filename (e.g. @command.txt). Such a command argument is
     replaced by the content of the corresponding  text  file  (multiple  white-
     spaces  are  treated  as  a single separator unless they appear between two
     quotation marks) prior to any further evaluation. Please note that  a  com-
     mand  file  cannot  contain another command file. This simple but effective
     approach allows one to summarize common combinations of  options/parameters
     and  avoids  longish and confusing command lines (an example is provided in
     file <datadir>/dumppat.txt).

ENVIRONMENT
     The dcmquant utility will attempt to load DICOM data dictionaries specified
     in the DCMDICTPATH environment variable. By default, i.e. if  the	DCMDICT-
     PATH  environment variable is not set, the file <datadir>/dicom.dic will be
     loaded unless the dictionary is built into  the  application  (default  for
     Windows).

     The  default  behavior  should be preferred and the DCMDICTPATH environment
     variable only used when alternative data  dictionaries  are  required.  The
     DCMDICTPATH environment variable has the same format as the Unix shell PATH
     variable  in  that  a  colon (':') separates entries. On Windows systems, a
     semicolon (';') is used as a separator. The data dictionary code  will  at-
     tempt  to load each file specified in the DCMDICTPATH environment variable.
     It is an error if no data dictionary can be loaded.

COPYRIGHT
     Copyright (C) 2001-2025 by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121	Oldenburg,  Ger-
     many.

Version 3.7.0			 Mon Dec 15 2025		     dcmquant(1)

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