Displaying image in Java
last modified July 6, 2020
Displaying image in Java tutorial shows how to display an image in Java. We show how to build a project using command line tools, Ant, Maven, NetBeans, and Eclipse. The source code and the image are available at the author's Github repository.
Beginner programmers often have problems with displaying an image in a project. The problem lies in correctly identifying the path to the image file. The key part is to realize that the relative path to the image file starts from the project directory. This tutorial was created to make things clear.
The following example shows the screenshot of the application.

The source code
Here we provide the source code for displaying an image in Java.
package com.zetcode; import java.awt.Container; import java.awt.EventQueue; import javax.swing.GroupLayout; import javax.swing.ImageIcon; import javax.swing.JComponent; import javax.swing.JFrame; import javax.swing.JLabel; public class DisplayImage extends JFrame { public DisplayImage() { initUI(); } private void initUI() { ImageIcon ii = loadImage(); JLabel label = new JLabel(ii); createLayout(label); setTitle("Image"); setLocationRelativeTo(null); setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE); } private ImageIcon loadImage() { ImageIcon ii = new ImageIcon("src/images/snake.jpg"); return ii; } private void createLayout(JComponent... arg) { Container pane = getContentPane(); GroupLayout gl = new GroupLayout(pane); pane.setLayout(gl); gl.setAutoCreateContainerGaps(true); gl.setHorizontalGroup(gl.createSequentialGroup() .addComponent(arg[0]) ); gl.setVerticalGroup(gl.createParallelGroup() .addComponent(arg[0]) ); pack(); } public static void main(String[] args) { EventQueue.invokeLater(() -> { DisplayImage ex = new DisplayImage(); ex.setVisible(true); }); } }
The example creates a Java Swing application and uses an ImageIcon
component to display the image.
private ImageIcon loadImage() { ImageIcon ii = new ImageIcon("src/images/snake.jpg"); return ii; }
The important part is here. The ImageIcon
takes the file path to the
image. This file path depends on the build tool we use.
Displaying image with command line tools
The first example builds the Java application with command line tools.
$ mkdir bin $ mkdir -p src/main/com/zetcode/ $ mkdir src/main/images $ cp ~/Pictures/snake.jpg src/main/images/
We create the project structure and copy the image to the images directory.
private ImageIcon loadImage() { ImageIcon ii = new ImageIcon("src/main/images/snake.jpg"); return ii; }
In a command line application, we have used the src/main/images/snake.jpg
path.
$ tree . ├── bin └── src └── main ├── com │ └── zetcode │ └── DisplayImage.java └── images └── snake.jpg 6 directories, 2 files
This is how the project directory structure looks like.
$ javac -d bin src/main/com/zetcode/DisplayImage.java
The application is compiled with the javac
tool.
$ tree . ├── bin │ └── com │ └── zetcode │ └── DisplayImage.class └── src └── main ├── com │ └── zetcode │ └── DisplayImage.java └── images └── snake.jpg 8 directories, 3 files
After compiling the source code, we have a Java class file created
in the bin/com/zetcode
subdirectory.
$ java -cp bin com.zetcode.DisplayImage
We run the application with the java
command.
Using Ant to build the project
In this section, we use the Ant build tool to create the project.
$ mkdir -p src/main/com/zetcode/ $ mkdir src/main/images $ cp ~/Pictures/snake.jpg src/main/images/
We create the directories and copy the image file.
$ tree . ├── build.xml └── src └── main ├── com │ └── zetcode │ └── DisplayImage.java └── images └── snake.jpg 5 directories, 3 files
With the tree
command, we show the directory structure of
the project.
<?xml version="1.0"?> <project name="DisplayImage" default="compile"> <target name="init"> <mkdir dir="build/classes"/> </target> <target name="compile" depends="init"> <javac includeantruntime="false" srcdir="src" destdir="build/classes"/> </target> <target name="clean"> <delete dir="build"/> </target> </project>
This is the Ant build file. We have tasks for creating directories, compiling source code, and cleaning up.
private ImageIcon loadImage() { ImageIcon ii = new ImageIcon("src/main/images/snake.jpg"); return ii; }
We use the src/main/images/snake.jpg
path.
$ ant Buildfile: /home/janbodnar/prog/javaimages/displayimageant/build.xml init: compile: [javac] Compiling 1 source file to /home/janbodnar/prog/javaimages/displayimageant/build/classes BUILD SUCCESSFUL Total time: 2 seconds
We build the project.
$ java -cp build/classes/ com.zetcode.DisplayImage
The application is launched.
Displaying image in NetBeans
In NetBeans, we create a Java application.
We create a new folder. We right-click on the Source Packages and select New — Folder.

We call the folder images
. Its parent directory is src
. Using a
drag and drop operation, we copy the snake.jpg
file to the images
subdirectory.
private ImageIcon loadImage() { ImageIcon ii = new ImageIcon("src/images/snake.jpg"); return ii; }
In NetBeans, we have used the src/images/snake.jpg
path.
System.out.println(System.getProperty("user.dir"));
The application's current working directory is the project directory, DisplayImageEx
in our case. We can figure out the current working directory with the user.dir
system property. The src
directory is a subdirectory of the project directory.

The figure show the actual project structure in NetBeans.
Displaying image in Eclipse
In Eclipse, we create a Java project. We right-click on the project node and select New — Source Folder.
We call the folder name images
. Unlike in NetBeans, its parent directory is the project
folder. Using a drag and drop operation, we copy the snake.jpg
file to the images
subdirectory.
private ImageIcon loadImage() { ImageIcon ii = new ImageIcon("images/snake.jpg"); return ii; }
In Eclipse, we have used the images/snake.jpg
path.

The figure show the actual project structure in Eclipse.
This was the Displaying image in Java tutorial. We have built a Swing application that displays an image using command line tools, Ant, NetBeans, and Eclipse.
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