ultralytics/docs/tasks/classification.md

Image classification is the simplest of the three tasks and involves classifying an entire image into one of a set of predefined classes.

The output of an image classifier is a single class label and a confidence score. Image classification is useful when you need to know only what class an image belongs to and don't need to know where objects of that class are located or what their exact shape is.

!!! tip "Tip"

YOLOv8 _classification_ models use the `-cls` suffix, i.e. `yolov8n-cls.pt` and are pretrained on ImageNet.

Models{.md-button .md-button--primary}

Train

Train YOLOv8n-cls on the MNIST160 dataset for 100 epochs at image size 64. For a full list of available arguments see the Configuration page.

!!! example ""

=== "Python"

    ```python
    from ultralytics import YOLO
    
    # Load a model
    model = YOLO("yolov8n-cls.yaml")  # build a new model from scratch
    model = YOLO("yolov8n-cls.pt")  # load a pretrained model (recommended for training)
    
    # Train the model
    results = model.train(data="mnist160", epochs=100, imgsz=64)
    ```
=== "CLI"

    ```bash
    yolo task=classify mode=train data=mnist160 model=yolov8n-cls.pt epochs=100 imgsz=64
    ```

Val

Validate trained YOLOv8n-cls model accuracy on the MNIST160 dataset. No argument need to passed as the model retains it's training data and arguments as model attributes.

!!! example ""

=== "Python"

    ```python
    from ultralytics import YOLO
    
    # Load a model
    model = YOLO("yolov8n-cls.pt")  # load an official model
    model = YOLO("path/to/best.pt")  # load a custom model
    
    # Validate the model
    results = model.val()  # no arguments needed, dataset and settings remembered
    ```
=== "CLI"

    ```bash
    yolo task=classify mode=val model=yolov8n-cls.pt  # val official model
    yolo task=classify mode=val model=path/to/best.pt  # val custom model
    ```

Predict

Use a trained YOLOv8n-cls model to run predictions on images.

!!! example ""

=== "Python"

    ```python
    from ultralytics import YOLO
    
    # Load a model
    model = YOLO("yolov8n-cls.pt")  # load an official model
    model = YOLO("path/to/best.pt")  # load a custom model
    
    # Predict with the model
    results = model("https://ultralytics.com/images/bus.jpg")  # predict on an image
    ```
=== "CLI"

    ```bash
    yolo task=classify mode=predict model=yolov8n-cls.pt source="https://ultralytics.com/images/bus.jpg"  # predict with official model
    yolo task=classify mode=predict model=path/to/best.pt source="https://ultralytics.com/images/bus.jpg"  # predict with custom model
    ```

Export

Export a YOLOv8n-cls model to a different format like ONNX, CoreML, etc.

!!! example ""

=== "Python"

    ```python
    from ultralytics import YOLO
    
    # Load a model
    model = YOLO("yolov8n-cls.pt")  # load an official model
    model = YOLO("path/to/best.pt")  # load a custom trained
    
    # Export the model
    model.export(format="onnx")
    ```
=== "CLI"

    ```bash
    yolo mode=export model=yolov8n-cls.pt format=onnx  # export official model
    yolo mode=export model=path/to/best.pt format=onnx  # export custom trained model
    ```

Available YOLOv8-cls export formats include:

| Format                                                                     | `format=`     | Model                         |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------|-------------------------------|
| [PyTorch](https://pytorch.org/)                                            | -             | `yolov8n-cls.pt`              |
| [TorchScript](https://pytorch.org/docs/stable/jit.html)                    | `torchscript` | `yolov8n-cls.torchscript`     |
| [ONNX](https://onnx.ai/)                                                   | `onnx`        | `yolov8n-cls.onnx`            |
| [OpenVINO](https://docs.openvino.ai/latest/index.html)                     | `openvino`    | `yolov8n-cls_openvino_model/` |
| [TensorRT](https://developer.nvidia.com/tensorrt)                          | `engine`      | `yolov8n-cls.engine`          |
| [CoreML](https://github.com/apple/coremltools)                             | `coreml`      | `yolov8n-cls.mlmodel`         |
| [TensorFlow SavedModel](https://www.tensorflow.org/guide/saved_model)      | `saved_model` | `yolov8n-cls_saved_model/`    |
| [TensorFlow GraphDef](https://www.tensorflow.org/api_docs/python/tf/Graph) | `pb`          | `yolov8n-cls.pb`              |
| [TensorFlow Lite](https://www.tensorflow.org/lite)                         | `tflite`      | `yolov8n-cls.tflite`          |
| [TensorFlow Edge TPU](https://coral.ai/docs/edgetpu/models-intro/)         | `edgetpu`     | `yolov8n-cls_edgetpu.tflite`  |
| [TensorFlow.js](https://www.tensorflow.org/js)                             | `tfjs`        | `yolov8n-cls_web_model/`      |
| [PaddlePaddle](https://github.com/PaddlePaddle)                            | `paddle`      | `yolov8n-cls_paddle_model/`   |