MaxMind DB Python Module

Description

This is a Python module for reading MaxMind DB files. The module includes both a pure Python reader and an optional C extension.

MaxMind DB is a binary file format that stores data indexed by IP address subnets (IPv4 or IPv6).

Installation

To install maxminddb, type:

$ pip install maxminddb

If you are not able to install from PyPI, you may also use pip from the source directory:

$ python -m pip install .

The installer will attempt to build the C extension. If this fails, the module will fall-back to the pure Python implementation.

Usage

To use this module, you must first download or create a MaxMind DB file. We provide free GeoLite2 databases. These files must be decompressed with gunzip.

After you have obtained a database and imported the module, call open_database with a path, or file descriptor (in the case of Mode.FD), to the database as the first argument. Optionally, you may pass a mode as the second argument. The modes are available from maxminddb.Mode. Valid modes are:

  • Mode.MMAP_EXT - use the C extension with memory map.

  • Mode.MMAP - read from memory map. Pure Python.

  • Mode.FILE - read database as standard file. Pure Python.

  • Mode.MEMORY - load database into memory. Pure Python.

  • Mode.FD - load database into memory from a file descriptor. Pure Python.

  • Mode.AUTO - try Mode.MMAP_EXT, Mode.MMAP, Mode.FILE in that order. Default.

NOTE: When using Mode.FD, it is the caller’s responsibility to be sure that the file descriptor gets closed properly. The caller may close the file descriptor immediately after the Reader object is created.

The open_database function returns a Reader object. To look up an IP address, use the get method on this object. The method will return the corresponding values for the IP address from the database (e.g., a dictionary for GeoIP2/GeoLite2 databases). If the database does not contain a record for that IP address, the method will return None.

If you wish to also retrieve the prefix length for the record, use the get_with_prefix_len method. This returns a tuple containing the record followed by the network prefix length associated with the record.

You may also iterate over the whole database. The Reader class implements the __iter__ method that returns an iterator. This iterator yields a tuple containing the network and the record.

Example

>>> import maxminddb
>>>
>>> with maxminddb.open_database('GeoLite2-City.mmdb') as reader:
>>>
>>>     reader.get('152.216.7.110')
{'country': ... }
>>>
>>>     reader.get_with_prefix_len('152.216.7.110')
({'country': ... }, 24)
>>>
>>>     for network, record in reader:
>>>         ...

Exceptions

The module will return an InvalidDatabaseError if the database is corrupt or otherwise invalid. A ValueError will be thrown if you look up an invalid IP address or an IPv6 address in an IPv4 database.

Thread Safety

Both the C extension and pure Python implementations are safe for concurrent reads and support Python 3.13+ free-threading. The C extension provides free-threading support on platforms with pthread support (such as Linux and macOS) and Windows. On other platforms, the extension will use GIL-based protection. Calling close() while reads are in progress may cause exceptions in those threads.

Requirements

This code requires Python 3.10+. Older versions are not supported. The C extension requires CPython.

Versioning

The MaxMind DB Python module uses Semantic Versioning.

Support

Please report all issues with this code using the GitHub issue tracker

If you are having an issue with a MaxMind service that is not specific to this API, please contact MaxMind support for assistance.

Module

Module for reading MaxMind DB files.

exception maxminddb.InvalidDatabaseError

Bases: RuntimeError

An error thrown when unexpected data is found in the database.

class maxminddb.Reader(database: AnyStr | int | PathLike | IO, mode: int = Mode.AUTO)

Bases: object

A pure Python implementation of a reader for the MaxMind DB format.

IP addresses can be looked up using the get method.

close() → None

Close the MaxMind DB file and returns the resources to the system.

Calling this method while reads are in progress may cause exceptions.

closed: bool
get(ip_address: str | IPv6Address | IPv4Address) → Record | None

Return the record for the ip_address in the MaxMind DB.

Arguments:

ip_address: an IP address in the standard string notation

get_with_prefix_len(ip_address: str | IPv6Address | IPv4Address) → tuple[Record | None, int]

Return a tuple with the record and the associated prefix length.

Arguments:

ip_address: an IP address in the standard string notation

metadata() → Metadata

Return the metadata associated with the MaxMind DB file.

maxminddb.open_database(database: AnyStr | int | os.PathLike | IO, mode: int = Mode.AUTO) → Reader

Open a MaxMind DB database.

Arguments:
database: A path to a valid MaxMind DB file such as a GeoIP2 database

file, or a file descriptor in the case of MODE_FD.

mode: mode to open the database with. Valid mode are:

  • MODE_MMAP_EXT - use the C extension with memory map.

  • MODE_MMAP - read from memory map. Pure Python.

  • MODE_FILE - read database as standard file. Pure Python.

  • MODE_MEMORY - load database into memory. Pure Python.

  • MODE_FD - the param passed via database is a file descriptor, not

    a path. This mode implies MODE_MEMORY.

  • MODE_AUTO - tries MODE_MMAP_EXT, MODE_MMAP, MODE_FILE in that

    order. Default mode.

Errors

Typed errors thrown by this library.

exception maxminddb.errors.InvalidDatabaseError

Bases: RuntimeError

An error thrown when unexpected data is found in the database.

Database Reader

Pure-Python reader for the MaxMind DB file format.

class maxminddb.reader.Metadata(*, binary_format_major_version: int, binary_format_minor_version: int, build_epoch: int, database_type: str, description: dict[str, str], ip_version: int, languages: list[str], node_count: int, record_size: int)

Bases: object

Metadata for the MaxMind DB reader.

binary_format_major_version: int

The major version number of the binary format used when creating the database.

binary_format_minor_version: int

The minor version number of the binary format used when creating the database.

build_epoch: int

The Unix epoch for the build time of the database.

database_type: str

A string identifying the database type, e.g., “GeoIP2-City”.

description: dict[str, str]

A map from locales to text descriptions of the database.

ip_version: int

The IP version of the data in a database. A value of “4” means the database only supports IPv4. A database with a value of “6” may support both IPv4 and IPv6 lookups.

languages: list[str]

A list of locale codes supported by the database.

property node_byte_size: int

The size of a node in bytes.

node_count: int

The number of nodes in the database.

record_size: int

The bit size of a record in the search tree.

property search_tree_size: int

The size of the search tree.

class maxminddb.reader.Reader(database: AnyStr | int | PathLike | IO, mode: int = Mode.AUTO)

Bases: object

A pure Python implementation of a reader for the MaxMind DB format.

IP addresses can be looked up using the get method.

close() → None

Close the MaxMind DB file and returns the resources to the system.

Calling this method while reads are in progress may cause exceptions.

closed: bool
get(ip_address: str | IPv6Address | IPv4Address) → Record | None

Return the record for the ip_address in the MaxMind DB.

Arguments:

ip_address: an IP address in the standard string notation

get_with_prefix_len(ip_address: str | IPv6Address | IPv4Address) → tuple[Record | None, int]

Return a tuple with the record and the associated prefix length.

Arguments:

ip_address: an IP address in the standard string notation

metadata() → Metadata

Return the metadata associated with the MaxMind DB file.

Indices and tables

copyright:

  1. 2013-2025 by MaxMind, Inc.

license:

Apache License, Version 2.0