wp_load_image()

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

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;
}