What causes "Failed to analyze colorspace" in Intervention/image?

Verify the build pair: run php -i | grep -i imagick and confirm the extension's compiled ImageMagick version matches the installed library; rebuild with pecl install imagick after library upgrades.

Intervention/image · error · AnalyzerException

Failed to analyze colorspace

Error message

Failed to analyze colorspace

What it means

This is the safety net around the whole colorspace analysis: any PHP Error (TypeError, undefined constant access, engine fault surfacing as Error) raised while calling getImageColorspace() or evaluating the match is re-thrown as AnalyzerException with the original chained. Unlike the 'unknown colorspace' variant, the value never reached the match — the Imagick extension itself failed.

Source

Thrown at src/Drivers/Imagick/Analyzers/ColorspaceAnalyzer.php:47

            // OKLAB/OKLCH only exist on recent ImageMagick builds, so the
            // constants are resolved through defined()/constant() (mirroring the
            // ColorspaceModifier) to avoid referencing them where they are
            // undefined. Any unexpected resolution error is normalized below.
            return match (true) {
                $colorspace === Imagick::COLORSPACE_CMYK => new Cmyk(),
                $colorspace === Imagick::COLORSPACE_SRGB,
                $colorspace === Imagick::COLORSPACE_RGB => new Rgb(),
                $colorspace === Imagick::COLORSPACE_HSL => new Hsl(),
                $colorspace === Imagick::COLORSPACE_HSB => new Hsv(),
                defined(Imagick::class . '::COLORSPACE_OKLAB')
                    && $colorspace === constant(Imagick::class . '::COLORSPACE_OKLAB') => new Oklab(),
                defined(Imagick::class . '::COLORSPACE_OKLCH')
                    && $colorspace === constant(Imagick::class . '::COLORSPACE_OKLCH') => new Oklch(),
                default => throw new AnalyzerException('Failed to analyze unknown colorspace'),
            };
        } catch (Error $e) {
            throw new AnalyzerException('Failed to analyze colorspace', previous: $e);
        }
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 5598b9e397)

Solutions

Verify the build pair: run php -i | grep -i imagick and confirm the extension's compiled ImageMagick version matches the installed library; rebuild with pecl install imagick after library upgrades.
Smoke-test a freshly read small image — if every image fails, it is the environment, not the file.
If one specific file reproduces it on a healthy build, report upstream with the chained previous Error.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try { $colorspace = $image->colorspace(); } catch (AnalyzerException $e) { if ($e->getPrevious() instanceof \Error) { /* environment failure: alert ops */ } throw $e; }

Prevention

Pin matching imagick extension + ImageMagick library versions in Docker images and rebuild both together.
Run a startup smoke test (read a 1x1 PNG) to fail fast on broken builds.
After system package upgrades, reinstall the imagick PECL extension.

When it happens

Trigger: Broken ext-imagick builds where the PHP extension was compiled against a different ImageMagick major version than the loaded library; old PECL imagick versions whose methods return unexpected types (e.g. string instead of int) breaking strict comparisons downstream; type errors inside custom colorspace classes pulled in by the match arms.

Common situations: System ImageMagick packages upgraded without rebuilding the imagick extension; Docker/Alpine images mixing libmagick versions; minimal images assembled from mismatched -dev packages.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Intervention/image@5598b9e397 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c805a65726bdea38. Report an issue: GitHub.