This little project shows you how to build an executable file of your Python code.

Here, hello.py is the main file. It uses a module (helper.py), it imports the os module from the stdlib, and it even uses a 3rd-party library (requests).

With PyInstaller, you can easily create a single executable file from this project.

$ pyinstaller --onefile hello.py

Under Windows you might have a problem with this. If the .exe complains that a DLL is missing, then try this variation:

$ pyinstaller --onefile --noupx hello.py

You'll find the exe in the dist/ folder.

EXE is a file extension for an executable file format. It makes distributing your program much easier. The exe produced by PyInstaller is standalone. It means that it's enough to give this exe to your friend and (s)he can run it right away. There is no need to install Python on his/her machine, no need to create a virtual environment, etc. Under Windows you can simply start an exe with a double click.

Of course, if your friend uses Windows (Linux), then create the exe under Windows (Linux).

No. PyInstaller simply creates a bundle that contains everything: your code, the necessary modules / packages, the virtual environment, the Python interpreter, etc. When you launch the EXE, it is extracted to your temp folder (under Linux it's the /tmp folder), and your application is started from there. So the runtime will be approximately the same.

For a demo, check out my simple Fibonacci implementation in the folder speed_test.

pynt is a minimalistic build tool. If you installed everything with poetry (poetry install), then you can also create the executable with the following commands:

$ pynt exe

or (using pyinstaller's --noupx switch)

$ pynt exe2

Click on the image below to open a YouTube video that shows you everything step-by-step:

Changes since the video was made:

• The project was updated for Python 3.8 and PyInstaller 4.0.
• In the video I talk about pipenv, but the project was updated to use poetry. I tried both pipenv and poetry and I prefer poetry.

• This project of mine got included in PyCoder's Weekly -- Issue #355 under the title "PythonEXE: How to Create an Executable File From a Python Script?"
• Reddit discussion: here.
• Using PyInstaller to Easily Distribute Python Applications, a blog post on the same topic
• PyUpdater, a pyinstaller auto-update framework