Save/Load Image between buffer

Given below is a small piece of code to save/load image between buffer:

typedef std::vector<BYTE> vecByte;

bool save_img(const CImage &image, vecByte &buf) 
{
    IStream *stream = NULL;
    HRESULT hr = CreateStreamOnHGlobal(0, TRUE, &stream);
    if( !SUCCEEDED(hr) )
        return false;
    image.Save(stream, Gdiplus::ImageFormatBMP);
    ULARGE_INTEGER liSize;
    IStream_Size(stream, &liSize);
    DWORD len = liSize.LowPart;
    IStream_Reset(stream);
    buf.resize(len);
    IStream_Read(stream, &buf[0], len);
    stream->Release();
    return true;
}

bool load_img(const vecByte &buf, CImage &image)
{
    UINT len = buf.size();
    HGLOBAL hMem = GlobalAlloc(GMEM_FIXED, len);
    BYTE *pmem = (BYTE*)GlobalLock(hMem);
    memcpy(pmem, &buf[0], len);
    IStream    *stream = NULL;
    CreateStreamOnHGlobal(hMem, FALSE, &stream);
    image.Load(stream);
    stream->Release();
    GlobalUnlock(hMem);
    GlobalFree(hMem);
    return true;
}