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Freedom251 › Blog › GdkPaintable

GtkImage in GTK 4: Displaying Images, Icons, and Paintables

By Freedom251 Team · · 3 min read

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GtkImage is a GTK 4 widget for displaying image content, especially fixed-size images such as icons. It can be created from files, icon names, GIcons, paintables, or resources. For an image that should appear at its natural size, GTK’s documentation points to GtkPicture instead.

What GtkImage does

GtkImage is a widget that displays image content in a GTK interface. GTK 4 provides constructors and setters for several content types, including files, icon names, GIcon objects, GdkPaintable objects, and resources. The class reference lists pixbuf-based APIs too, but GTK’s migration guide marks those GtkImage APIs deprecated since GTK 4.12. For new code, select the API that matches the content type and verify it against the GTK version your application supports.

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See the Gtk.Image class reference and GTK’s GTK 3-to-4 migration guide.

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Choose GtkImage or GtkPicture

The practical distinction is the display job: use GtkImage for fixed-size content such as an icon, and consider GtkPicture when the image should display at its natural size. This is guidance from GTK’s documentation, not a complete comparison of every layout or rendering behavior.

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Widget Documented default use Content model
GtkImage Fixed-size content, such as an icon (GTK migration guide) Supports image representations including named icons and paintables (GTK class reference)
GtkPicture Image content displayed at its natural size (GTK migration guide) Displays a GdkPaintable, with convenience APIs for files and resources (GTK class reference)

References: GTK migration guide and Gtk.Picture class reference.

Ways to create a GtkImage

GTK 4 documents these constructors for common content types:

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  • gtk_image_new_from_file() for a file path.
  • gtk_image_new_from_icon_name() for an icon name resolved through the icon theme.
  • gtk_image_new_from_gicon() for a GIcon.
  • gtk_image_new_from_paintable() for a GdkPaintable.
  • gtk_image_new_from_resource() for an image packaged as a resource.

The class reference also lists a pixbuf constructor, but the GTK 3-to-4 migration guide marks pixbuf-specific GtkImage APIs deprecated since GTK 4.12. Check the documentation for your target GTK version before choosing an API.

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Using files and handling load failures

gtk_image_new_from_file() creates a widget even when the requested file is missing or cannot be loaded. Rather than returning NULL to signal that failure, the widget displays a broken-image icon. That behavior is convenient when a fallback visual is acceptable, but it does not give the application an explicit load-error result through the constructor.

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If the interface must detect a failure and present its own error UI, GTK’s constructor documentation recommends loading the image with an image framework such as libglycin first, then creating the GtkImage from the resulting texture. Consult the file constructor documentation for the documented behavior.

Displaying a paintable

A GdkPaintable can represent content that changes over time or in response to updates. When a paintable is passed to gtk_image_new_from_paintable(), GtkImage tracks it and updates its displayed contents and size when the paintable changes. The widget’s icon-size setting also affects paintables; for an image intended to display at its intrinsic size, GTK recommends GtkPicture.

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References: Gtk.Image.new_from_paintable and the Gtk.Picture class reference.

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Icon themes and symbolic icons after migrating from GTK 3

GTK 4’s migration guidance describes a shift toward GdkPaintable and the separation of image-display behavior into GtkPicture, while retaining GtkImage as a suitable widget for icons. It also notes a symbolic-icon detail: an icon supplied directly as an icon paintable is not automatically recolored according to the rendering context. If theme-based symbolic palette behavior is desired, use the icon name on GtkImage. Check the migration guidance against the exact GTK version your application targets.

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See Migrating from GTK 3.x to GTK 4.

Reading the current paintable

The paintable property represents the GdkPaintable currently displayed by the widget. gtk_image_get_paintable() returns that paintable, or NULL if there is none. The returned object is owned by the GtkImage instance; callers should not treat it as an owned reference. See the paintable property reference and getter reference.

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GdkPaintableGTKGTK 4GtkImageGtkPicture

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