###### (This function is part of SDL_image, a separate library from SDL.) # IMG_LoadTexture_IO Load an image from an SDL data source into a GPU texture. ## Header File Defined in [](https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_image/blob/main/include/SDL3_image/SDL_image.h) ## Syntax ```c SDL_Texture * IMG_LoadTexture_IO(SDL_Renderer *renderer, SDL_IOStream *src, bool closeio); ``` ## Function Parameters | | | | | -------------- | ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | SDL_Renderer * | **renderer** | the SDL_Renderer to use to create the GPU texture. | | SDL_IOStream * | **src** | an SDL_IOStream that data will be read from. | | bool | **closeio** | true to close/free the SDL_IOStream before returning, false to leave it open. | ## Return Value (SDL_Texture *) Returns a new texture, or NULL on error. ## Remarks An SDL_Texture represents an image in GPU memory, usable by SDL's 2D Render API. This can be significantly more efficient than using a CPU-bound SDL_Surface if you don't need to manipulate the image directly after loading it. If the loaded image has transparency or a colorkey, a texture with an alpha channel will be created. Otherwise, SDL_image will attempt to create an SDL_Texture in the most format that most reasonably represents the image data (but in many cases, this will just end up being 32-bit RGB or 32-bit RGBA). If `closeio` is true, `src` will be closed before returning, whether this function succeeds or not. SDL_image reads everything it needs from `src` during this call in any case. There is a separate function to read files from disk without having to deal with SDL_IOStream: `IMG_LoadTexture(renderer, "filename.jpg")` will call this function and manage those details for you, determining the file type from the filename's extension. There is also [IMG_LoadTextureTyped_IO](IMG_LoadTextureTyped_IO)(), which is equivalent to this function except a file extension (like "BMP", "JPG", etc) can be specified, in case SDL_image cannot autodetect the file format. If you would rather decode an image to an SDL_Surface (a buffer of pixels in CPU memory), call [IMG_Load](IMG_Load)() instead. When done with the returned texture, the app should dispose of it with a call to SDL_DestroyTexture(). ## Version This function is available since SDL_image 3.0.0. ## See Also - [IMG_LoadTexture](IMG_LoadTexture) - [IMG_LoadTextureTyped_IO](IMG_LoadTextureTyped_IO) - [SDL_DestroyTexture](SDL_DestroyTexture) ---- [CategoryAPI](CategoryAPI), [CategoryAPIFunction](CategoryAPIFunction), [CategorySDLImage](CategorySDLImage)