diff --git a/docs/elements.rst b/docs/elements.rst
index d68ee035dc..27fd76b86c 100644
--- a/docs/elements.rst
+++ b/docs/elements.rst
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ To add an image, use the ``addImage`` method to sections, headers, footers, text
 
     $section->addImage($src, [$style]);
 
-- ``$src``. String path to a local image or URL of a remote image.
+- ``$src``. String path to a local image, URL of a remote image or the image data, as a string.
 - ``$style``. See :ref:`image-style`.
 
 Examples:
@@ -254,6 +254,8 @@ Examples:
     $footer->addImage('http://example.com/image.php');
     $textrun = $section->addTextRun();
     $textrun->addImage('http://php.net/logo.jpg');
+    $source = file_get_contents('/path/to/my/images/earth.jpg');
+    $textrun->addImage($source);
 
 Watermarks
 ~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/src/PhpWord/Element/Image.php b/src/PhpWord/Element/Image.php
index bf2b03d635..d7e5a66530 100644
--- a/src/PhpWord/Element/Image.php
+++ b/src/PhpWord/Element/Image.php
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ class Image extends AbstractElement
     const SOURCE_LOCAL = 'local'; // Local images
     const SOURCE_GD = 'gd'; // Generated using GD
     const SOURCE_ARCHIVE = 'archive'; // Image in archives zip://$archive#$image
+    const SOURCE_STRING = 'string'; // Image from string
 
     /**
      * Image source
@@ -379,6 +380,8 @@ private function checkImage($source)
         // Check image data
         if ($this->sourceType == self::SOURCE_ARCHIVE) {
             $imageData = $this->getArchiveImageSize($source);
+        } else if ($this->sourceType == self::SOURCE_STRING) {
+            $imageData = $this->getStringImageSize($source);
         } else {
             $imageData = @getimagesize($source);
         }
@@ -416,9 +419,15 @@ private function setSourceType($source)
         } elseif (strpos($source, 'zip://') !== false) {
             $this->memoryImage = false;
             $this->sourceType = self::SOURCE_ARCHIVE;
+        } elseif (filter_var($source, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL) !== false) {
+            $this->memoryImage = true;
+            $this->sourceType = self::SOURCE_GD;
+        } elseif (@file_exists($source)) {
+            $this->memoryImage = false;
+            $this->sourceType = self::SOURCE_LOCAL;
         } else {
-            $this->memoryImage = (filter_var($source, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL) !== false);
-            $this->sourceType = $this->memoryImage ? self::SOURCE_GD : self::SOURCE_LOCAL;
+            $this->memoryImage = true;
+            $this->sourceType = self::SOURCE_STRING;
         }
     }
 
@@ -460,6 +469,24 @@ private function getArchiveImageSize($source)
         return $imageData;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * get image size from string
+     * 
+     * @param string $source
+     * 
+     * @codeCoverageIgnore this method is just a replacement for getimagesizefromstring which exists only as of PHP 5.4
+     */
+    private function getStringImageSize($source)
+    {
+        if (!function_exists('getimagesizefromstring')) {
+            $uri = 'data://application/octet-stream;base64,'  . base64_encode($source);
+            return @getimagesize($uri);
+        } else {
+            return @getimagesizefromstring($source);
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Set image functions and extensions.
      *
diff --git a/tests/PhpWord/Element/ImageTest.php b/tests/PhpWord/Element/ImageTest.php
index c463b0c4d4..9ef9694bd5 100644
--- a/tests/PhpWord/Element/ImageTest.php
+++ b/tests/PhpWord/Element/ImageTest.php
@@ -156,4 +156,57 @@ public function testArchivedImage()
         $image = new Image("zip://{$archiveFile}#{$imageFile}");
         $this->assertEquals('image/jpeg', $image->getImageType());
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Test getting image as string
+     */
+    public function testImageAsStringFromFile()
+    {
+        $image = new Image(__DIR__ . '/../_files/images/earth.jpg');
+
+        $this->assertNotNull($image->getImageStringData());
+        $this->assertNotNull($image->getImageStringData(true));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test getting image from zip as string
+     */
+    public function testImageAsStringFromZip()
+    {
+        $archiveFile = __DIR__ . '/../_files/documents/reader.docx';
+        $imageFile = 'word/media/image1.jpeg';
+        $image = new Image("zip://{$archiveFile}#{$imageFile}");
+
+        $this->assertNotNull($image->getImageStringData());
+        $this->assertNotNull($image->getImageStringData(true));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test construct from string
+     */
+    public function testConstructFromString()
+    {
+        $source = file_get_contents(__DIR__ . '/../_files/images/earth.jpg');
+
+        $image = new Image($source);
+        $this->assertInstanceOf('PhpOffice\\PhpWord\\Element\\Image', $image);
+        $this->assertEquals($source, $image->getSource());
+        $this->assertEquals(md5($source), $image->getMediaId());
+        $this->assertEquals('image/jpeg', $image->getImageType());
+        $this->assertEquals('jpg', $image->getImageExtension());
+        $this->assertEquals('imagecreatefromjpeg', $image->getImageCreateFunction());
+        $this->assertEquals('imagejpeg', $image->getImageFunction());
+        $this->assertTrue($image->isMemImage());
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test invalid string image
+     *
+     * @expectedException \PhpOffice\PhpWord\Exception\InvalidImageException
+     */
+    public function testInvalidImageString()
+    {
+        $object = new Image('this_is-a_non_valid_image');
+        $object->getSource();
+    }
 }