diff --git a/openbr/openbr_plugin.cpp b/openbr/openbr_plugin.cpp
index f36780f..f0e0e9c 100644
--- a/openbr/openbr_plugin.cpp
+++ b/openbr/openbr_plugin.cpp
@@ -476,6 +476,18 @@ TemplateList TemplateList::fromGallery(const br::File &gallery)
     return templates;
 }
 
+TemplateList TemplateList::fromBuffer(const QByteArray &buffer)
+{
+    TemplateList templateList;
+    QDataStream stream(buffer);
+    while (!stream.atEnd()) {
+        Template t;
+        stream >> t;
+        templateList.append(t);
+    }
+    return templateList;
+}
+
 // indexes some property, assigns an integer id to each unique value of propName
 // stores the index values in "Label" of the output template list
 TemplateList TemplateList::relabel(const TemplateList &tl, const QString &propName, bool preserveIntegers)
diff --git a/openbr/openbr_plugin.h b/openbr/openbr_plugin.h
index f983238..1d9f7cd 100644
--- a/openbr/openbr_plugin.h
+++ b/openbr/openbr_plugin.h
@@ -437,6 +437,9 @@ struct TemplateList : public QList<Template>
     TemplateList(const QList<File> &files) : uniform(false) { foreach (const File &file, files) append(file); } /*!< \brief Initialize the template list from a file list. */
     BR_EXPORT static TemplateList fromGallery(const File &gallery); /*!< \brief Create a template list from a br::Gallery. */
 
+    /*!< \brief Create a template list from a memory buffer of individual templates. Compatible with '.gal' galleries. */
+    BR_EXPORT static TemplateList fromBuffer(const QByteArray &buffer);
+
     /*!< \brief Ensure labels are in the range [0,numClasses-1]. */
     BR_EXPORT static TemplateList relabel(const TemplateList &tl, const QString &propName, bool preserveIntegers);
 
diff --git a/openbr/plugins/gallery.cpp b/openbr/plugins/gallery.cpp
index 4cc2221..6d02436 100644
--- a/openbr/plugins/gallery.cpp
+++ b/openbr/plugins/gallery.cpp
@@ -85,6 +85,9 @@ BR_REGISTER(Gallery, arffGallery)
 /*!
  * \ingroup galleries
  * \brief A binary gallery.
+ *
+ * Designed to be a literal translation of templates to disk.
+ * Compatible with TemplateList::fromBuffer.
  * \author Josh Klontz \cite jklontz
  */
 class galGallery : public Gallery