# image/load Load an image file into a CPU-only RGBA pixel buffer. Thread-safe — no GL, safe from any thread including per-panel app threads. Unlike `image/open` (which returns an `Image` for the encode/transform pipeline), `image/load` returns a `PixelBuffer` whose pixel pointer is stable for its lifetime — the video-frame/GL-upload shape. ## Syntax

[image/load $path]

## Parameters - `$path` — string path to the image file (PNG, JPEG, WebP via the vendored codecs) ## Examples

set buf [image/load "assets/photo.png"]
[image/dims $buf]                       # → %{ :w N :h N }
[draw/image $ctx 0 0 64 48 $buf]        # draw accepts PixelBuffer directly

## Returns A `PixelBuffer` native resource on success, or `nil` on failure. The buffer is garbage-collected — call `image/free` to release it immediately. Pass the handle to `image/dims`, `image/rotate`, `image/flip`, `image/flop`, `image/resize`, `image/crop`, `image/pixel-write`, or `draw/image`. ## See Also `image/open`, `image/pixel-buffer`, `image/pixel-write`, `image/free`, `image/dims`, `draw/image`