Crates / color_quant / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to color_quant
Short answerThe closest alternatives to color_quant on crates.io data are png (1M real downloads a day), zune-core (612K real downloads a day), zune-jpeg (603K real downloads a day). Of the 7 we list, the most used is png, and 6 shipped a release in the last year. color_quant itself gets 453,755 a day with 47 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs color_quant | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| png Widely used | 1,045,922 | 2.31x | 1,264 | 8mo | category Images | compare |
| zune-core Pulled in | 611,619 | 1.35x | 64 | 3mo | category Images | compare |
| zune-jpeg Established | 602,931 | 1.33x | 117 | 5d | category Images | compare |
| moxcms Pulled in | 593,585 | 1.31x | 51 | 39d | category Images | compare |
| tiff Established | 461,469 | 1.02x | 134 | 8mo | category Images | compare |
| image-webp Pulled in | 403,308 | 0.89x | 64 | 14mo | category Images | compare |
| rgb Established | 392,903 | 0.87x | 349 | 8mo | category Images | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with color_quant; read its description before you swap.
- More dependents means more answered questions and a smaller chance it disappears.
- Check the last release against how fast you need fixes. For color_quant: is it still maintained?
Rules
Alternatives = tracked crates (top 1000 by downloads) that share a specific crates.io category (2 points each) or keyword (3 points each) with color_quant, most similar first; its own parts (same name prefix) and crates it depends on or that depend on it are left out, because those are companions, not substitutes. Real downloads = quiet-day median, crates.io data Oct 24, 2026. Built when we find 3 or more.
Up next
The closest alternative: Widely used and gaining. 1,045,922 real downloads a day.pngRust crate. PNG decoding and encoding library in pure Rust. Real use: 1M downloads a day on quiet days; 1,264 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time