Intervention/image · error · InvalidArgumentException

Image source must be a resource of type "file" or "stream"

Error message

Image source must be a resource of type "file" or "stream"

What it means

StreamImageDecoder::decode() requires a PHP resource whose get_resource_type() is 'file' or 'stream'. Passing any other resource type - or an already-closed resource (is_resource() returns false after fclose) - fails here. Usually hit by calling the decoder directly or by confusing a stream handle with a stream wrapper URL string.

Source

Thrown at src/Drivers/Imagick/Decoders/StreamImageDecoder.php:40

    public function supports(mixed $input): bool
    {
        return is_resource($input);
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     *
     * @see DecoderInterface::decode()
     *
     * @throws InvalidArgumentException
     * @throws StreamException
     * @throws DriverException
     * @throws StateException
     */
    public function decode(mixed $input): ImageInterface
    {
        if (!is_resource($input) || !in_array(get_resource_type($input), ['file', 'stream'])) {
            throw new InvalidArgumentException('Image source must be a resource of type "file" or "stream"');
        }

        $contents = '';
        $rewind = rewind($input);
        if ($rewind === false) {
            throw new StreamException('Failed to rewind position of stream');
        }

        while (!feof($input)) {
            $chunk = fread($input, 1024);
            if ($chunk === false) {
                throw new StreamException('Failed to read image from stream');
            }

            $contents .= $chunk;
        }

        try {

View on GitHub (pinned to 5598b9e397)

Solutions

1. Open a real handle first: $manager->read(fopen($path, 'rb'))
2. For PSR-7 bodies, pass the underlying resource: $manager->read($stream->detach())
3. Guard with is_resource($h) && in_array(get_resource_type($h), ['file', 'stream']) before passing

Example fix

// before
$image = $manager->read('php://temp'); // string, not a resource

// after
$handle = fopen('php://temp', 'r+b');
fwrite($handle, $imageBytes);
$image = $manager->read($handle);

function isFileStreamResource(mixed $value): bool
{
    return is_resource($value)
        && in_array(get_resource_type($value), ['file', 'stream'], true);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a cURL handle (curl_init()), a popen() pipe, or a resource closed elsewhere; passing the string 'php://temp' instead of an fopen() handle; passing a PSR-7 StreamInterface object instead of $stream->detach().

Common situations: Refactors from string paths to streams; integrating with PSR-7 request/response bodies; consuming resources produced by curl multi handles.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid argument type errors: "must be of type string", "expected X, got Y", and ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE explained — this error's family across 15 libraries.

Related errors

• Image source must be binary data of type string or instance
• Image source must be data uri scheme of type string or Inter
• Image source must be of type Intervention\Image\EncodedImage
• Image source must be of type GdImage
• Image source must be an instance of Imagick

AI-assisted analysis of Intervention/image@5598b9e397 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0bf6af5a7114b99d. Report an issue: GitHub.