includegraphics

includegraphics is a LaTeX command used to insert images into a document. It is provided by the graphicx package, which must be loaded in the preamble with \usepackage{graphicx}. The command’s syntax is simple: \includegraphics{filename}, where the file name refers to an image file such as diagram.png or chart.pdf. An optional argument in square brackets passes key-value options to control size and other properties, for example [width=\textwidth], [width=0.5\textwidth,keepaspectratio], or [trim=1in 2in 1in 2in,clip]. Common choices are width, height, scale, angle, and clip; keepaspectratio preserves proportions when one dimension is specified.

The graphics format depends on the compiler: pdfLaTeX handles PNG, JPEG, and PDF; LaTeX to DVI commonly uses EPS, with conversion to PDF. XeLaTeX and LuaLaTeX support PNG, PDF, and JPEG. You can tell LaTeX where to search for images with \graphicspath{{figures/}{images/}} and omit directories in the file name.

For floating figures, the image is usually placed inside a figure environment with optional \caption and \label for references, as in: \begin{figure}\centering \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{diagram} \caption{A description} \label{fig:diagram} \end{figure}.

In short, includegraphics provides flexible image inclusion via a single command, with broad format support and sizing options suitable for most documents.