How to Install `urllib3` in Python

v2.6.3 Web & HTTP Python >=3.9

HTTP library with thread-safe connection pooling, file post, and more.

Install pip install urllib3

What is urllib3?

HTTP library with thread-safe connection pooling, file post, and more.

urllib3 is a powerful, user-friendly HTTP client for Python. urllib3 brings many critical features that are missing from the Python standard libraries:

- Thread safety. - Connection pooling. - Client-side SSL/TLS verification. - File uploads with multipart encoding. - Helpers for retrying requests and dealing with HTTP redirects. - Support for gzip, deflate, brotli, and zstd encoding. - Proxy support for HTTP and SOCKS. - 100% test coverage.

... and many more features, but most importantly: Our maintainers have a 15+ year track record of maintaining urllib3 with the highest code standards and attention to security and safety.

PyPI page → Author: Andrey Petrov <andrey.petrov@shazow.net>

Quick Start

Minimal example to get started with urllib3:

import urllib3

print(urllib3.__version__)

Installation

pip (standard)

pip install urllib3

Virtual environment (recommended)

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate   # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install urllib3

pip3

pip3 install urllib3

conda

conda install -c conda-forge urllib3

Poetry

poetry add urllib3

Verify the Installation

After installing, confirm the package is available:

python -c "import urllib3; print(urllib3.__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 urllib3 with pip.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'urllib3'

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

Fix: Run pip install urllib3. If using a virtual environment, ensure it is activated first.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'urllib3' (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 urllib3 to install into the interpreter you are running.

ImportError: cannot import name 'X' from 'urllib3'

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

Fix: Check the version with pip show urllib3 and upgrade with pip install --upgrade urllib3.

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 urllib3. 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 urllib3

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 urllib3

ConnectionError: Failed to establish a new connection

Cause: Server unreachable, URL invalid, or firewall/proxy blocking the connection.

Fix: Verify the URL and network access. Set HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY env vars if behind a proxy.

SSLError: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED

Cause: The remote server's SSL certificate cannot be verified.

Fix: Update CA certificates on your system. For testing only, disable SSL verification (never in production).

Recent Releases

Version	Released
`2.6.3` latest	2026-01-07
`2.6.2`	2025-12-11
`2.6.1`	2025-12-08
`2.6.0`	2025-12-05
`2.5.0`	2025-06-18

Full release history on PyPI →

Manage urllib3

Upgrade to latest version

pip install --upgrade urllib3

Install a specific version

pip install urllib3==2.6.3

Uninstall

pip uninstall urllib3

Check what is installed

pip show urllib3

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

How to Install urllib3 in Python