diff --git a/legacy/evas/src/lib/Evas.h b/legacy/evas/src/lib/Evas.h
index 03eceac1c7..438bb3eff3 100644
--- a/legacy/evas/src/lib/Evas.h
+++ b/legacy/evas/src/lib/Evas.h
@@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ typedef struct _Evas_Event_Key_Down   Evas_Event_Key_Down; /**< Event structure
 typedef struct _Evas_Event_Key_Up     Evas_Event_Key_Up; /**< Event structure for #EVAS_CALLBACK_KEY_UP event callbacks */
 typedef struct _Evas_Event_Hold       Evas_Event_Hold; /**< Event structure for #EVAS_CALLBACK_HOLD event callbacks */
 
+/* load error identifiers, see evas_load_error_str() */
 #define EVAS_LOAD_ERROR_NONE                       0 /**< No error on load */
 #define EVAS_LOAD_ERROR_GENERIC                    1 /**< A non-specific error occured */
 #define EVAS_LOAD_ERROR_DOES_NOT_EXIST             2 /**< File (or file path) does not exist */
@@ -1117,6 +1118,8 @@ extern "C" {
    /**
     * Utilities:
     */
+   EAPI const char *evas_load_error_str(int error);
+
 
    /**
     * Every subclass should provide this at the beginning of their own
diff --git a/legacy/evas/src/lib/canvas/evas_main.c b/legacy/evas/src/lib/canvas/evas_main.c
index 3f869d8950..1507349e8a 100644
--- a/legacy/evas/src/lib/canvas/evas_main.c
+++ b/legacy/evas/src/lib/canvas/evas_main.c
@@ -1065,3 +1065,27 @@ _evas_unwalk(Evas *e)
    e->walking_list--;
    if ((e->walking_list == 0) && (e->delete_me)) evas_free(e);
 }
+
+EAPI const char *
+evas_load_error_str(int error)
+{
+   switch (error)
+     {
+      case EVAS_LOAD_ERROR_NONE:
+	 return "No error on load";
+      case EVAS_LOAD_ERROR_GENERIC:
+	 return "A non-specific error occured";
+      case EVAS_LOAD_ERROR_DOES_NOT_EXIST:
+	 return "File (or file path) does not exist";
+      case EVAS_LOAD_ERROR_PERMISSION_DENIED:
+	 return "Permission deinied to an existing file (or path)";
+      case EVAS_LOAD_ERROR_RESOURCE_ALLOCATION_FAILED:
+	 return "Allocation of resources failure prevented load";
+      case EVAS_LOAD_ERROR_CORRUPT_FILE:
+	 return "File corrupt (but was detected as a known format)";
+      case EVAS_LOAD_ERROR_UNKNOWN_FORMAT:
+	 return "File is not a known format";
+      default:
+	 return "Unknown error";
+     }
+}