How to Install `colorama` in Python

v0.4.6 CLI & Utilities Python !=3.0.*,!=3.1.*,!=3.2.*,!=3.3.*,!=3.4.*,!=3.5.*,!=3.6.*,>=2.7

Cross-platform colored terminal text.

Install pip install colorama

What is colorama?

Cross-platform colored terminal text.

Makes ANSI escape character sequences (for producing colored terminal text and cursor positioning) work under MS Windows.

If you find Colorama useful, please |donate| to the authors. Thank you!

Tested on CPython 2.7, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9 and 3.10 and Pypy 2.7 and 3.8.

PyPI page → Author: Jonathan Hartley <tartley@tartley.com>

Quick Start

Minimal example to get started with colorama:

import colorama

print(colorama.__version__)

Installation

pip (standard)

pip install colorama

Virtual environment (recommended)

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate   # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install colorama

pip3

pip3 install colorama

conda

conda install -c conda-forge colorama

Poetry

poetry add colorama

Verify the Installation

After installing, confirm the package is available:

python -c "import colorama; print(colorama.__version__)"

If this prints a version number, installation succeeded. If you see a ModuleNotFoundError, see the errors section below.

Installation Errors

Common errors when installing colorama with pip.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'colorama'

Cause: The package is not installed in the current Python environment.

Fix: Run pip install colorama. If using a virtual environment, ensure it is activated first.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'colorama' (installed but still failing)

Cause: pip installed the package into a different Python than the one running your script.

Fix: Use python -m pip install colorama to install into the interpreter you are running.

ImportError: cannot import name 'X' from 'colorama'

Cause: The function or class does not exist in the installed version.

Fix: Check the version with pip show colorama and upgrade with pip install --upgrade colorama.

pip: command not found

Cause: pip is not in PATH or Python was not added to PATH during installation.

Fix: Try python -m pip install colorama. On macOS/Linux try pip3.

PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied

Cause: No write access to the system Python package directory.

Fix: Use a virtual environment, or add --user: pip install --user colorama

SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED

Cause: pip cannot verify PyPI's SSL certificate — common behind corporate proxies.

Fix: Try: pip install --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org colorama

Recent Releases

Version	Released
`0.4.6` latest	2022-10-25
`0.4.6rc1`	2022-10-19
`0.4.5`	2022-06-16
`0.4.5rc1`	2022-06-15
`0.4.4`	2020-10-13

Full release history on PyPI →

Manage colorama

Upgrade to latest version

pip install --upgrade colorama

Install a specific version

pip install colorama==0.4.6

Uninstall

pip uninstall colorama

Check what is installed

pip show colorama

Last updated: 2026-04-11 • Data from PyPI

How to Install colorama in Python