Windows png rendering not working for dot files

0 votes
asked Sep 5, 2025 in Bug by luke.powell (120 points)

When I launch the Windows program by double clicking on the jar, it's not able to render PNG output of a DOT file input. Here's a simplified file for reproducing the issue:

test.plantuml
@startdot
digraph x {
    a -> b
}
@enddot

When I change to that directory, it generates a file test.png, but the file contents when opened in a text editor are as follows:
Format: "png" not recognized. Use one of: canon cmap cmapx cmapx_np dot dot_json eps fig gv imap imap_np ismap json json0 mp pic plain plain-ext ps ps2 svg tk vml xdot xdot1.2 xdot1.4 xdot_json

If I launch from the command line with parameters -gui -tsvg rather than double-clicking, it does generate the SVG file correctly.

Here is the output from the About menu option:

        Loaded from jar:file:/C:/Users/luke.powell/Desktop/plantuml-1.2025.4.jar!/

The environment variable GRAPHVIZ_DOT has not been set
Dot executable is C:\Users\LUKE~1.POW\AppData\Local\Temp\_graphviz\dot.exe
Dot version: dot - graphviz version 2.44.1 (20200629.0846)
Installation seems OK. File generation OK

Java Runtime: Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment
JVM: Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM
Java Version: 24.0.2+12-54
Operating System: Windows 11
OS Version: 10.0
Default Encoding: UTF-8
Language: en
Country: US

PLANTUML_LIMIT_SIZE: 4096
Processors: 8
Max Memory: 4,223,664,128
Total Memory: 266,338,304
Free Memory: 234,797,896
Used Memory: 31,540,408
Thread Active Count: 3     

1 Answer

0 votes
answered Sep 6, 2025 by plantuml (298,440 points)
Unfortunately, PNG generation is not supported on Windows for DOT-based diagrams in PlantUML. Sorry about that.
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