# MMSegmentation — OpenMMLab Semantic Segmentation Toolbox > MMSegmentation is a comprehensive semantic segmentation toolbox based on PyTorch, providing 50+ segmentation methods with a unified benchmark and modular design. ## Install Save as a script file and run: # MMSegmentation — OpenMMLab Semantic Segmentation Toolbox ## Quick Use ```bash pip install mmsegmentation mmengine mmcv python -c " from mmseg.apis import init_model, inference_model config = 'configs/pspnet/pspnet_r50-d8_4xb2-40k_cityscapes-512x1024.py' checkpoint = 'pspnet_r50-d8_512x1024_40k_cityscapes.pth' model = init_model(config, checkpoint, device='cuda:0') result = inference_model(model, 'demo.png') print(result.pred_sem_seg.data.shape) " ``` ## Introduction MMSegmentation provides a unified platform for training and evaluating semantic segmentation models. Part of the OpenMMLab ecosystem, it offers a modular design that lets researchers mix and match backbones, decoders, and loss functions to rapidly prototype new architectures. ## What MMSegmentation Does - Implements 50+ segmentation methods including DeepLab, PSPNet, and SegFormer - Supports 15+ benchmark datasets such as Cityscapes, ADE20K, and PASCAL VOC - Provides a modular config system to compose models from reusable components - Offers pre-trained weights for immediate inference and fine-tuning - Scales training across multiple GPUs with distributed data parallel ## Architecture Overview MMSegmentation follows a registry-based architecture where backbones, decode heads, losses, and datasets are registered as interchangeable modules. A Python config file declares which components to assemble. The training loop is managed by MMEngine, which handles logging, checkpointing, and distributed coordination. ## Self-Hosting & Configuration - Install mmsegmentation, mmengine, and mmcv via pip - Download pre-trained checkpoints from the model zoo - Modify config files to point to your dataset directory - Adjust batch size and learning rate for your GPU memory - Launch distributed training with torchrun or slurm scripts ## Key Features - 50+ architectures with consistent training and evaluation APIs - Modular config system for rapid experimentation - Rich model zoo with pre-trained weights on major benchmarks - Support for Transformer-based and CNN-based segmentation - Built-in visualization tools for prediction overlays ## Comparison with Similar Tools - **Detectron2** — broader scope (detection + segmentation); MMSeg focuses deeply on semantic segmentation - **torchvision** — fewer architectures and no unified config system - **segmentation_models.pytorch** — simpler API but lacks MMSeg's breadth of methods - **PaddleSeg** — similar scope within the PaddlePaddle ecosystem ## FAQ **Q: Can I use custom datasets?** A: Yes. Implement a dataset class or convert your data to a supported format like Cityscapes. **Q: Does it support instance segmentation?** A: No. Use MMDetection for instance and panoptic segmentation tasks. **Q: Which backbone gives the best accuracy?** A: Swin Transformer and BEiT backbones currently lead ADE20K benchmarks when paired with UPerNet. **Q: Can I export models for deployment?** A: Yes. Use MMDeploy to convert models to ONNX, TensorRT, or OpenVINO formats. ## Sources - https://github.com/open-mmlab/mmsegmentation - https://mmsegmentation.readthedocs.io/ --- Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/asset-7c63094f Author: Script Depot