How to download a machine learning dataset for PyTorch and TensorFlow in Python

Without any need to download, a variety of popular machine learning datasets can be accessed and streamed with Hub with one line of code. This enables you to explore the datasets and train models without needing to download machine learning datasets regardless of their size. Access classical datasets like CIFAR-10, MNIST or Fashion-MNIST, as well as large datasets like Google Objectron, ImageNet, COCO, and many others in Python.

What is MNIST Dataset?

The MNIST (Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology database) dataset contains a training set of 60,000 images and a test set of 10,000 images of handwritten digits. The handwritten digit images have been size-normalized and centered in a fixed size of 28×28 pixels. The MNIST digits dataset is often used by data scientists who want to try machine learning techniques and pattern recognition methods on real-world data while spending minimal effort on preprocessing and formatting.

What is COCO Dataset?

The COCO (Common Objects in Context) dataset comprises 91 common object categories, 82 of which have more than 5,000 labeled examples. The dataset has 2.5 million labeled instances in 328k photos, created with the help of a large number of crowd workers using unique user interfaces for category detection, instance spotting, and instance segmentation. COCO dataset is a novel dataset with the purpose of improving the state-of-the-art in object detection by aligning the problem within the larger framework of scene understanding.

What is CIFAR 10 Dataset?

The CIFAR10 (Canadian Institute For Advanced Research) dataset consists of 10 classes with 6000 color images of 32×32 resolution for each class. It is divided into 50000 training and 10000 testing images. The test dataset contains exactly 1000 randomly collected images from each class. The training datasets may contain more images per class compared to others but they contain 5000 images per class on average.

What is CIFAR 100 Dataset?

The CIFAR100 (Canadian Institute For Advanced Research) dataset consists of 100 classes with 600 color images of 32×32 resolution for each class. It is divided into 500 training and 100 testing images per class. In CIFAR100, there are 20 superclasses sub-grouped into 100 classes. The dataset comes with two labels for each image such as a “fine” label (class) and a “coarse” label (superclass).

What is the MNIST dataset used for

MNIST is used as a “hello world” example by data scientists worldwide. Typically, MNIST dataset is used as a benchmark dataset, or as a proof-of-concept for training and testing purposes in the field of machine learning.

What is the MNIST dataset for Python?

The MNIST dataset (Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology database) is one of the most popular datasets in machine learning. MNIST is a dataset of 60,000 square 28×28 pixel images of handwritten single digits between 0 and 9. The images are in grayscale format.

How to download the MNIST dataset in Python?

You can load MNIST dataset fast with one line of code using the open-source package Activeloop Hub in Python. See detailed instructions on how to load MNIST dataset training subset or MNIST dataset testing subset in Python.

How to create an Image Dataset like MNIST dataset?

With Activeloop Hub, creating image datasets like the MNIST digits dataset is simple. Simple datasets like MNIST can be created automatically by allowing Hub parse the legacy files into Hub dataset format. More complex datasets can be created manually.

What is the size of each image in the MNIST dataset?

MNIST dataset image size is constant across all images of the dataset. Each MNIST dataset image is a fixed-size 28×28 pixel square image.

MNIST vs Fashion-MNIST. What is the difference between MNIST and Fashion-MNIST?

MNIST and Fashion-MNIST dataset are two separate datasets. However, the Fashion-MNIST dataset is meant to be an MNIST dataset alternative. Fashion-MNIST comprises pictures of clothing items and was published in 2017 by Zalando, a German online retailer. Both datasets are of the same size: 60 000 photos in the training set, as well as 10 000 pictures of clothing in the validation set of the dataset.

What does MNIST stand for?

MNIST is an acronym for the Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology dataset.

Why is MNIST so popular?

Created in 1998, MNIST dataset containing handwritten digits from 0-9 is small in size, simple in structure and easy to use. This makes it a good first dataset to try various pattern recognition methods on, with minimal effort required on data preprocessing..

Is MNIST suitable for deep learning?

Yes, MNIST data set is one of the most used datasets for deep learning. As of July 2022, MNIST only falls behind CIFAR-10, Imagenet, coco datasets in the amount of papers that cite them (or has used as a benchmark dataset.

Fashion MNIST Dataset

Estimated reading: 3 minutes

Visualization of the Fashion MNIST Dataset in the Deep Lake UI

Fashion MNIST Dataset

What is Fashion MNIST Dataset?

The Fashion MNIST (Fashion Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology database) dataset is comprised of 60,000 samples of the training set and 10,000 samples of the test set. Each sample is a 28×28 grayscale picture with a label from one of ten classes. Fashion-MNIST is intended to be a direct drop-in replacement for the original MNIST dataset for evaluating machine learning algorithms. The image size and structure of the training and testing splits are the same.

Download Fashion MNIST Dataset in Python

Instead of downloading the Fashion-MNIST dataset in Python, you can effortlessly load it in Python via our Deep Lake open-source with just one line of code.

Load Fashion MNIST Dataset Training Subset in Python

				
					import deeplake
ds = deeplake.load('hub://activeloop/fashion-mnist-train')

Load Fashion MNIST Dataset Testing Subset in Python

				
					import deeplake
ds = deeplake.load('hub://activeloop/fashion-mnist-test')

Fashion MNIST Dataset Structure

Fashion MNIST Data Fields

images: tensor containing the 28×28 image (T-shirt/top, Trouser, Pullover, Dress, Coat, Sandal, Shirt, Sneaker, Bag, Ankle boot).
labels: a numerical label that represents the index of the article in the label list.

Fashion MNIST Data Splits

The Fashion MNIST dataset training set is composed of 60,000 examples.
The Fashion MNIST dataset test set was composed of 10,000 examples.

How to use Fashion MNIST Dataset with PyTorch and TensorFlow in Python

Train a model on Fashion MNIST dataset with PyTorch in Python

Let’s use Deep Lake built-in PyTorch one-line dataloader to connect the data to the compute:

				
					dataloader = ds.pytorch(num_workers=0, batch_size=4, shuffle=False)

Train a model on Fashion MNIST dataset with TensorFlow in Python

				
					dataloader = ds.tensorflow()

Additional Information about Fashion MNIST Dataset

Fashion MNIST Dataset Description

Repository: https://github.com/zalandoresearch/fashion-mnist
Paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1708.07747v2.pdf
Point of Contact: https://gitter.im/fashion-mnist/Lobby?utm_source=share-link&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=share-link

Fashion MNIST Dataset Curators

Han Xiao, Kashif Rasul, Roland Vollgraf

Fashion MNIST Dataset Licensing Information

MIT Licence

Fashion MNIST Dataset Citation Information

				
					@article{xiao2017fashion,
title={Fashion-mnist: a novel image dataset for benchmarking machine learning algorithms},
author={Xiao, Han and Rasul, Kashif and Vollgraf, Roland},
journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:1708.07747},
year={2017}
}

Fashion MNIST Dataset FAQs

What are the classes of images in the Fashion MNIST dataset?

Similar to MNIST, Fashion-MNIST contains 10 classes of images.

T-shirt/top,
Trouser,
Pullover,
Dress,
Coat,
Sandal,
Shirt,
Sneaker,
Bag,
Ankle boot.

What are the main differences between MNIST and Fashion MNIST dataset?

Fashion MNIST is meant to substitute the MNIST dataset. Both datasets have the same amount of pictures in the training set (60 000 pictures) as well as the testing set (10 000 pictures).
Both Fashion MNIST and MNIST datasets have 10 classes: the ten digits (0 to 9) for MNIST, whilst Fashion MNIST is ten kinds of clothing items.
Both datasets consist of 28×28 pixel greyscale pictures, with each pixel being a number between 0 and 255 representing the greyscale intensity.

How many images are in the Fashion MNIST dataset?

The Fashion MNIST dataset has 70 000 images, consisting of 60 000 training set and 10 000 testing set images.