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Includegraphics is a command provided by the LaTeX graphicx package used to insert images into a document. The command is written as \includegraphics[options]{filename}, where options is a comma-separated list of optional arguments and filename is the image file path. To use it, the graphicx package must be loaded in the preamble with \usepackage{graphicx}. If no extension is supplied, LaTeX will search for files with common image formats supported by the active engine.

Common options control size, rotation, and cropping. For example, \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{image.png} scales the image to the text width, and \includegraphics[scale=0.5]{image} reduces its size by half. The keepaspectratio option preserves the aspect ratio when multiple size specifications are provided. The trim and clip options can crop the displayed region by specifying left, bottom, right, and top margins.

Usage within a figure environment allows a caption and a label for cross-referencing, while inline use places the image at the current text position. The command works with engines such as pdflatex, xelatex, and lualatex and supports formats including PDF, PNG, and JPG. Common pitfalls include spaces in filenames, incorrect paths, and forgetting to load the graphicx package.