from:
http://dimamoroz.com/blog/3-ubuntu-pil-jpeg-support/
Ubuntu PIL JPEG support
Got an IOError exception, while trying to process image using PIL, with a next error message:
encoder jpeg not available
PIL is installed within python virtual environment. Figured out, I have no development files for libjpeg installed, so PIL compiles without JPEG support.
The solution is to:
$ sudo apt-get install libjpeg62-dev
Notice: 62 is from libjpeg version 6.2, so it may vary.
Finally, recompile PIL:
pip install -U PIL
PIL has JPEG support for now and everything works like a charm.
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I also did this before this work:
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I had the same problem, but I needed to make symbolic links to find the needed libraries:
$ cd /usr/lib
$ sudo ln -s x86_64-linux-gnu/libjpeg.so
$ sudo ln -s x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so
$ sudo ln -s x86_64-linux-gnu/libfreetype.so