Choose a Version and Package

OpenCvSharp uses separate managed and native packages. Every application needs the managed OpenCvSharp package and a native runtime package for its target operating system and architecture. The Windows convenience packages include both.

Choose OpenCvSharp5 or OpenCvSharp4

Package family	OpenCV version	.NET support	Recommended use
`OpenCvSharp5.*`	OpenCV 5.x	.NET 8 or later	New applications
`OpenCvSharp4.*`	OpenCV 4.13	.NET Framework 4.6.1 or later, .NET Standard 2.0/2.1, and .NET 8 or later	Existing applications and applications that require older .NET targets

The examples in this documentation use OpenCvSharp5. Replace OpenCvSharp5 with the corresponding OpenCvSharp4 package only when your application must use the OpenCvSharp4 family.

Choose a runtime package

Target	Packages
Windows x64	`OpenCvSharp5.Windows`
Windows ARM64	`OpenCvSharp5` and `OpenCvSharp5.runtime.win-arm64`
Linux x64 with GUI support	`OpenCvSharp5` and `OpenCvSharp5.official.runtime.linux-x64`
Linux x64 without GUI support	`OpenCvSharp5` and `OpenCvSharp5.official.runtime.linux-x64.headless`
Linux x64 with a reduced module set	`OpenCvSharp5` and `OpenCvSharp5.official.runtime.linux-x64.slim`
Linux ARM64	`OpenCvSharp5` and `OpenCvSharp5.runtime.linux-arm64`
macOS Intel	`OpenCvSharp5` and `OpenCvSharp5.runtime.osx.x64`
macOS Apple Silicon	`OpenCvSharp5` and `OpenCvSharp5.runtime.osx.arm64`
WebAssembly	`OpenCvSharp5` and `OpenCvSharp5.runtime.wasm`

Use only one native runtime package for a given deployment target. The runtime package must match the operating system and process architecture.

Full, headless, and slim Linux packages

The full Linux x64 package contains the complete module set, including highgui, and therefore uses GTK3 for APIs such as Cv2.ImShow and Cv2.WaitKey.

The headless package contains the same module set as the full package except for highgui. It is the usual choice for services and containers that need features such as videoio, DNN, ML, or contrib modules but do not display native windows.

The slim package has no GUI dependency and reduces the native module set. It omits contrib, DNN, videoio, and highgui, among other modules. Choose it only when the reduced feature set is sufficient.

Windows convenience packages

OpenCvSharp5.Windows combines the managed library, Windows x64 native runtime, GDI+ extensions, and WPF extensions where applicable. OpenCvSharp5.Windows.Slim provides the corresponding reduced native module set.

For Windows ARM64, reference OpenCvSharp5 and OpenCvSharp5.runtime.win-arm64 separately. FFmpeg-based video I/O is not included in the Windows ARM64 runtime package.

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