---
id: iterable-io
version: "1.0.4"
license: LGPL-3.0-only
license_treatment: copyleft
maintenance: active
---

# iterable-io — Adapt generators and other iterables to a file-like interface

License: copyleft · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 665.6K/mo

## What it is and what it does

iterable-io bridges a common interface mismatch: when one part of your code has a generator or other iterable producing data, but another part expects a file-like object with a `.read()` method. Rather than materializing the entire iterable into a temporary file (which is slow and memory-intensive), this library streams data on demand, pulling from the iterable as `.read()` is called.

The package exports a single function, `open_iterable()`, designed to mimic Python's builtin `open()`. It accepts an iterable, a mode string ('rb', 'rt', etc.), and optional parameters like encoding and buffering, returning a file-like object. This is useful for gluing together incompatible APIs—for example, when a library expects a file handle but your data comes from a generator of bytes or lines.

Use it for:

- Adapt a generator of bytes to feed into a library that requires a file-like object (e.g., image processing, archive extraction).
- Stream text data line-by-line from a generator without materializing the full dataset into memory.
- Convert network streams or database result iterators into file-like interfaces for downstream processing.
- Avoid temporary file creation when bridging APIs that produce and consume data differently.
- Read compressed or encoded data from a generator while handling text-mode decoding transparently.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Wraps iterables (generators, lists, etc.) as file-like objects so code expecting `.read()` can consume streaming data without buffering to disk.

Yes. The package solves a real interface-adaptation problem with zero dependencies, low install friction, active maintenance, and no known vulnerabilities. The copyleft license (LGPL-3.0-only) is straightforward for most use cases but requires review if you plan to modify or redistribute the code. Install it when you need to feed an iterable into code expecting a file-like object.

## Install

pip install iterable-io
uv add iterable-io
poetry add iterable-io

## Installing iterable-io

Before you install: No runtime dependencies and a pure-Python wheel distribution make installation straightforward. The package is actively maintained with a recent release.

License in practice: Licensed under LGPL-3.0-only (copyleft). Any derivative work or modification must be distributed under the same license; static linking or bundling requires careful attention to license compliance.

Quickstart:

pip install iterable-io

from iterable_io import open_iterable

gen = (b'chunk' for _ in range(3))
fp = open_iterable(gen, 'rb')
data = fp.read(4096)
fp.close()

Verify before relying:

- Whether the library handles all edge cases for text-mode encoding/decoding (e.g., multi-byte character boundaries across chunk boundaries).
- Performance characteristics when iterables produce very small chunks or very large chunks.
- Whether buffering options (if any) are configurable beyond what the docstring documents.

## Package facts

- License: LGPL-3.0-only (copyleft)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 665.6K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

generator to file-like object, iterable file adapter, streaming data interface, read from generator, file-like wrapper for iterables, convert iterable to file object, generator file interface, file-like-adapter, streaming, interface-glue

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