Matplotlib’s binary wheels (the files you install via pip ) are compiled using Microsoft Visual C++. To run these compiled files, your system needs the Visual C++ Redistributable runtime libraries. If these libraries are missing, outdated, or corrupted, Python cannot load the ft2font module.
Check your Python bitness:
# In your .spec file a.binaries += [('freetype.dll', 'C:\\path\\to\\freetype.dll', 'BINARY')] Matplotlib’s binary wheels (the files you install via
Start with Solution 1 (reinstall) and Solution 2 (VC++ Redist). Those two alone resolve roughly 80% of all reported issues. If those fail, systematically work through the remaining solutions. Check your Python bitness: # In your
If you are using or Miniconda , the issue is often a conflict between conda and pip packages. If you are using or Miniconda , the
RUN powershell -Command Add-WindowsFeature Web-Server RUN conda install freetype -c conda-forge
On Windows, a .pyd file is essentially a DLL. If that DLL tries to link to freetype.dll , zlib.dll , png.dll , or msvcp140.dll (Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable) and cannot find them, Windows refuses to load it. The result is the dreaded "The specified module could not be found."