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Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center

DeleteSmallComponents[image]

replaces small connected components in a binary image image with background pixels.

DeleteSmallComponents[m]

replaces positive integers in a label matrix m with 0 if their tally is small.

DeleteSmallComponents[…,n]

replaces components consisting of n or fewer elements.

Details and Options
Details and Options Details and Options
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Options  
Method  
Applications  
See Also
Related Guides
History
Cite this Page

DeleteSmallComponents

DeleteSmallComponents[image]

replaces small connected components in a binary image image with background pixels.

DeleteSmallComponents[m]

replaces positive integers in a label matrix m with 0 if their tally is small.

DeleteSmallComponents[…,n]

replaces components consisting of n or fewer elements.

Details and Options

  • DeleteSmallComponents works with arbitrary 2D and 3D images or label matrices.
  • The following options can be given:
  • CornerNeighborsTruewhether to include corner neighbors
    Method Automaticmethod to determine a size threshold
  • Possible settings for the Method option include:
  • "Cluster"cluster variance maximization (Otsu's algorithm)
    "Mean"use the mean of component sizes as the threshold
    "Median"use the median of component sizes as the threshold
  • The default setting is Method->"Cluster", corresponding to cluster variance maximization.

Examples

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Basic Examples  (3)

Delete small components in a binary image:

Wolfram Language code: DeleteSmallComponents[[image]]

Delete small components in a 3D image:

Wolfram Language code: DeleteSmallComponents[[image]]

Remove small components from a label matrix:

Wolfram Language code: DeleteSmallComponents[ (⁠| | | | | | - | - | - | - | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 |⁠)]//MatrixForm

Scope  (2)

Remove components with fewer than 1000 pixels:

Wolfram Language code: DeleteSmallComponents[[image], 1000]

Delete small components from a label matrix:

Wolfram Language code: DeleteSmallComponents[ (⁠| | | | | | - | - | - | - | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |⁠), 5]//MatrixForm

Options  (2)

Method  (2)

Use the default cluster variance maximization method:

Wolfram Language code: DeleteSmallComponents[Binarize[[image]], Method -> "Cluster"]

Delete components smaller than the mean component size:

Wolfram Language code: Binarize[FillingTransform@ColorNegate@[image], Method -> "MinimumError"]
Wolfram Language code: DeleteSmallComponents[%, Method -> "Mean"]

Applications  (2)

Clean small foreground and background components:

Wolfram Language code: ColorNegate[DeleteSmallComponents[ColorNegate[DeleteSmallComponents[[image], 50]], 50]]

Delete smaller components resulting from image segmentation:

Wolfram Language code: DeleteSmallComponents[WatershedComponents[[image]], 1500]//Colorize
Wolfram Research (2010), DeleteSmallComponents, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html (updated 2012).

Text

Wolfram Research (2010), DeleteSmallComponents, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html (updated 2012).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2010. "DeleteSmallComponents." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2012. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2010). DeleteSmallComponents. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2026_deletesmallcomponents, author="Wolfram Research", title="{DeleteSmallComponents}", year="2012", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html}", note=[Accessed: 05-October-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2026_deletesmallcomponents, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={DeleteSmallComponents}, year={2012}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DeleteSmallComponents.html}, note=[Accessed: 05-October-2026]}