OpenCV

OpenCV (Open Source Computer Vision Library) is a cross-platform open-source library of programming functions primarily aimed at real-time computer vision. It was initially developed by Intel and released in 1999–2000 to advance CV research and development. The project has since been supported by Willow Garage and Itseez (which was later acquired by Intel), and is maintained by a global community under the OpenCV Foundation. OpenCV is written in C++ with interfaces for Python, Java, and MATLAB, and runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS.

The library provides a comprehensive set of modules and algorithms for image processing, feature extraction, object detection and recognition, motion tracking, camera calibration, 3D reconstruction, and machine learning. Core components include Core, Imgproc, HighGui, and Imgcodecs, while additional modules cover Features2D, Calib3d, Video, Videoio, DNN, ML, Objdetect, Photo, and more. OpenCV emphasizes real-time performance and offers optimized routines and a pipeline for rapid prototyping.

OpenCV is distributed under a BSD-style license, allowing both academic and commercial use with minimal restrictions. It has a broad user base in research, education, and industry and serves as a foundational tool for applications in robotics, augmented reality, face and object recognition, medical imaging, and autonomous systems. The ecosystem includes extensive tutorials, sample code, pre-trained models, and a large online community that supports development and collaboration.