Python Intermediate

What is Python Wheel?

A built distribution format (.whl) that allows faster installation of Python packages by avoiding the need for compilation.

Wheels are the standard binary distribution format for Python packages (PEP 427). Unlike source distributions that may require compilation of C extensions during installation, wheels are pre-built and install quickly. A .whl file is a ZIP archive with a structured filename encoding package name, version, Python version, ABI, and platform. Pure Python wheels work everywhere; platform-specific wheels contain compiled extensions. pip prefers wheels over source distributions. Publishing wheels to PyPI significantly improves installation speed for users. The wheel package provides the bdist_wheel command for building wheels.

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