iso639-lang
A fast, comprehensive, ISO 639 library.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes, if you need reliable ISO 639 language code resolution. The package is stable, dependency-free, and actively maintained. Aging maintenance status (last release 387 days ago) is not a blocker for a reference-data library, but verify that the bundled ISO 639 tables meet your currency requirements—the fact sheet notes they were last updated in July 2025.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.9 or later.
- Low friction: pure Python wheel with no runtime dependencies.
- Maintenance status is aging—last release was 387 days ago—but the repository remains active with recent commits and the package is marked Production/Stable.
License · maintenance · safety
permissive license (permissive) — Licensed under MIT (permissive), so you can use, modify, and distribute freely with minimal restrictions.
last release 2025-07-23 (387 days) · last repo commit 2025-08-12 · 47 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 423,257 downloads/mo, #6,774 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
from iso639 import Lang
lg = Lang("French")
print(lg.pt1) # 'fr'
print(lg.pt3) # 'fra'
# Or use any valid identifier
lg2 = Lang("de")
print(lg2.name) # 'German'- Whether the in-memory mappings scale acceptably for applications loading many language instances in memory-constrained environments.
- Performance comparison claims against database-backed alternatives are not quantified in the fact sheet.
What it is and what it does
iso639-lang is a Python library that maps between language names and their ISO 639 standard identifiers. It loads ISO 639 reference tables (sets 1, 2, 3, and 5) into memory at import time, allowing fast lookups of language codes by name, code, or alternative name. You instantiate a Lang object with any valid identifier or name—such as 'French', 'fr', 'fre', or 'fra'—and retrieve the corresponding codes and metadata for that language across all five ISO 639 standards.
The library handles individual languages, language groups, macrolanguages, and deprecated codes. It recognizes alternative names (like 'Valencian' for Catalan), provides language type and scope information, and includes utilities like is_language() for validation and iter_langs() for iteration. It requires Python 3.9 or later and has no external dependencies.
Use it for
- Normalize user-provided language names or codes to standard ISO 639 identifiers in multilingual applications.
- Resolve language metadata (name, type, scope) from a single code or name input for localization workflows.
- Validate whether a given string is a recognized ISO 639 language identifier without raising exceptions.
- Map between different ISO 639 standards (e.g., convert a 639-1 code to its 639-3 equivalent).
- Enumerate all languages or language groups in a standardized order for UI dropdowns or language selection menus.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes, if you need reliable ISO 639 language code resolution.
The package is stable, dependency-free, and actively maintained. Aging maintenance status (last release 387 days ago) is not a blocker for a reference-data library, but verify that the bundled ISO 639 tables meet your currency requirements—the fact sheet notes they were last updated in July 2025.
Install
iso639-lang on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction: pure Python wheel with no runtime dependencies. Maintenance status is aging—last release was 387 days ago—but the repository remains active with recent commits and the package is marked Production/Stable.
Requires Python 3.9 or later.
License in practice
Licensed under MIT (permissive), so you can use, modify, and distribute freely with minimal restrictions.
Quickstart
from iso639 import Lang
lg = Lang("French")
print(lg.pt1) # 'fr'
print(lg.pt3) # 'fra'
# Or use any valid identifier
lg2 = Lang("de")
print(lg2.name) # 'German'Verify before relying
- Whether the in-memory mappings scale acceptably for applications loading many language instances in memory-constrained environments.
- Performance comparison claims against database-backed alternatives are not quantified in the fact sheet.
Package facts
| License | permissive license permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.9 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | None |
| Maintenance | Aging 387 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 423,257 / month, #6,774 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableLicense :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Topic :: Software Development :: InternationalizationTopic :: Software Development :: LocalizationTopic :: Text Processing :: Linguistic |
Evidence: iso639_lang-2.6.3-py3-none-any.whl
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See also iso-639 · python-iso639 · langcodes · isocodes · stopwordsiso · pycountry · num2words · weblate-language-data · country_list · pinyin