Title: wp_load_image
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# wp_load_image( string $file ): resource|GdImage|string

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#description)
    - [See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#see-also)
 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

This function has been deprecated since 3.5.0. Use [wp_get_image_editor()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_image_editor/)
instead.

Load an image from a string, if PHP supports it.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

### 󠀁[See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#see-also)󠁿

 * [wp_get_image_editor()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_image_editor/)

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$file`stringrequired

Filename of the image to load.

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 resource|GdImage|string The resulting image resource or GdImage instance on success,
error string on failure.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    function wp_load_image( $file ) {
    	_deprecated_function( __FUNCTION__, '3.5.0', 'wp_get_image_editor()' );

    	if ( is_numeric( $file ) )
    		$file = get_attached_file( $file );

    	if ( ! is_file( $file ) ) {
    		/* translators: %s: File name. */
    		return sprintf( __( 'File “%s” does not exist?' ), $file );
    	}

    	if ( ! function_exists('imagecreatefromstring') )
    		return __('The GD image library is not installed.');

    	// Set artificially high because GD uses uncompressed images in memory.
    	wp_raise_memory_limit( 'image' );

    	$image = imagecreatefromstring( file_get_contents( $file ) );

    	if ( ! is_gd_image( $image ) ) {
    		/* translators: %s: File name. */
    		return sprintf( __( 'File “%s” is not an image.' ), $file );
    	}

    	return $image;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/deprecated.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/deprecated.php#L3202)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/deprecated.php#L3202-L3227)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [is_gd_image()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_gd_image/)`wp-includes/media.php` |

Determines whether the value is an acceptable type for GD image functions.

  | 
| [wp_raise_memory_limit()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_raise_memory_limit/)`wp-includes/functions.php` |

Attempts to raise the PHP memory limit for memory intensive processes.

  | 
| [get_attached_file()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_attached_file/)`wp-includes/post.php` |

Retrieves attached file path based on attachment ID.

  | 
| [__()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/__/)`wp-includes/l10n.php` |

Retrieves the translation of $text.

  | 
| [_deprecated_function()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/_deprecated_function/)`wp-includes/functions.php` |

Marks a function as deprecated and inform when it has been used.

  |

[Show 2 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#)
[Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#)

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_load_image/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [3.5.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/3.5.0/) | Deprecated. Use [wp_get_image_editor()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_image_editor/)  | 
| [2.1.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.1.0/) | Introduced. |

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