diff --git a/ewmh.c b/ewmh.c
index e1dc9e27..4b4a874d 100644
--- a/ewmh.c
+++ b/ewmh.c
@@ -510,40 +510,16 @@ ewmh_window_icon_get_unchecked(xcb_window_t w)
 image_t *
 ewmh_window_icon_from_reply(xcb_get_property_reply_t *r)
 {
-    double alpha;
-    image_t *icon;
-    int size, i;
     uint32_t *data;
-    unsigned char *imgdata;
 
     if(!r || r->type != CARDINAL || r->format != 32 || r->length < 2 ||
        !(data = (uint32_t *) xcb_get_property_value(r)))
         return NULL;
 
-    icon = p_new(image_t, 1);
+    if(data[0] && data[1])
+        return image_new_from_argb32(data[0], data[1], data + 2);
 
-    icon->width = data[0];
-    icon->height = data[1];
-    size = icon->width * icon->height;
-
-    if(!size)
-    {
-        p_delete(&icon);
-        p_delete(&r);
-        return NULL;
-    }
-
-    icon->data = p_new(unsigned char, size * 4);
-    for(imgdata = icon->data, i = 2; i < size + 2; i++, imgdata += 4)
-    {
-        imgdata[3] = (data[i] >> 24) & 0xff;           /* A */
-        alpha = imgdata[3] / 255.0;
-        imgdata[2] = ((data[i] >> 16) & 0xff) * alpha; /* R */
-        imgdata[1] = ((data[i] >>  8) & 0xff) * alpha; /* G */
-        imgdata[0] = (data[i]         & 0xff) * alpha; /* B */
-    }
-
-    return icon;
+    return NULL;
 }
 
 /** Get NET_WM_ICON.
diff --git a/image.c b/image.c
index 0400dc10..6739b208 100644
--- a/image.c
+++ b/image.c
@@ -19,10 +19,7 @@
  *
  */
 
-#include <Imlib2.h>
-
 #include "structs.h"
-#include "image.h"
 
 extern awesome_t globalconf;
 
@@ -70,6 +67,63 @@ image_imlib_load_strerror(Imlib_Load_Error e)
     return "unknown error";
 }
 
+/** Recompute the ARGB32 data from an image.
+ * \param image The image.
+ * \return Data.
+ */
+static void
+image_compute(image_t *image)
+{
+    int size, i;
+    uint32_t *data;
+    double alpha;
+    uint8_t *dataimg;
+
+    imlib_context_set_image(image->image);
+
+    data = imlib_image_get_data_for_reading_only();
+
+    image->width = imlib_image_get_width();
+    image->height = imlib_image_get_height();
+
+    size = image->width * image->height;
+
+    p_delete(&image->data);
+    image->data = dataimg = p_new(uint8_t, size * 4);
+
+    for(i = 0; i < size; i++, dataimg += 4)
+    {
+        dataimg[3] = (data[i] >> 24) & 0xff;           /* A */
+        /* cairo wants pre-multiplied alpha */
+        alpha = dataimg[3] / 255.0;
+        dataimg[2] = ((data[i] >> 16) & 0xff) * alpha; /* R */
+        dataimg[1] = ((data[i] >>  8) & 0xff) * alpha; /* G */
+        dataimg[0] = (data[i]         & 0xff) * alpha; /* B */
+    }
+}
+
+/** Create a new image from ARGB32 data.
+ * \param width The image width.
+ * \param height The image height.
+ * \param data The image data.
+ * \return A brand new image.
+ */
+image_t *
+image_new_from_argb32(int width, int height, uint32_t *data)
+{
+    Imlib_Image imimage;
+    image_t *image = NULL;
+
+    if((imimage = imlib_create_image_using_data(width, height, data)))
+    {
+        image = p_new(image_t, 1);
+        image->image = imimage;
+        image_compute(image);
+    }
+
+    return image;
+}
+
 /** Load an image from filename.
  * \param filename The image file to load.
  * \return A new image.
@@ -77,10 +131,6 @@ image_imlib_load_strerror(Imlib_Load_Error e)
 image_t *
 image_new_from_file(const char *filename)
 {
-    int w, h, size, i;
-    uint32_t *data;
-    double alpha;
-    unsigned char *dataimg, *rdataimg;
     Imlib_Image imimage;
     Imlib_Load_Error e = IMLIB_LOAD_ERROR_NONE;
     image_t *image;
@@ -94,34 +144,10 @@ image_new_from_file(const char *filename)
         return NULL;
     }
 
-    imlib_context_set_image(imimage);
-
-    w = imlib_image_get_width();
-    h = imlib_image_get_height();
-
-    size = w * h;
-
-    data = imlib_image_get_data_for_reading_only();
-
-    rdataimg = dataimg = p_new(unsigned char, size * 4);
-
-    for(i = 0; i < size; i++, dataimg += 4)
-    {
-        dataimg[3] = (data[i] >> 24) & 0xff;           /* A */
-        /* cairo wants pre-multiplied alpha */
-        alpha = dataimg[3] / 255.0;
-        dataimg[2] = ((data[i] >> 16) & 0xff) * alpha; /* R */
-        dataimg[1] = ((data[i] >>  8) & 0xff) * alpha; /* G */
-        dataimg[0] = (data[i]         & 0xff) * alpha; /* B */
-    }
-
     image = p_new(image_t, 1);
+    image->image = imimage;
 
-    image->data = rdataimg;
-    image->width = w;
-    image->height = h;
-
-    imlib_free_image();
+    image_compute(image);
 
     return image;
 }
diff --git a/image.h b/image.h
index 998dadb1..c1aa6fcc 100644
--- a/image.h
+++ b/image.h
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #define AWESOME_IMAGE_H
 
 #include <lua.h>
+#include <Imlib2.h>
 
 #include "common/util.h"
 #include "common/refcount.h"
@@ -31,12 +32,14 @@ typedef struct
 {
     /** Reference counter */
     int refcount;
+    /** Imlib2 image */
+    Imlib_Image image;
     /** Image width */
     int width;
     /** Image height */
     int height;
     /** Image data */
-    void *data;
+    uint8_t *data;
 } image_t;
 
 static inline void
@@ -44,6 +47,8 @@ image_delete(image_t **i)
 {
     if(*i)
     {
+        imlib_context_set_image((*i)->image);
+        imlib_free_image();
         p_delete(&(*i)->data);
         p_delete(i);
     }
@@ -52,6 +57,8 @@ image_delete(image_t **i)
 DO_RCNT(image_t, image, image_delete)
 
 image_t * image_new_from_file(const char *);
+image_t * image_new_from_argb32(int, int, uint32_t *);
+uint8_t * image_data_argb32_get(image_t *);
 
 int luaA_image_userdata_new(lua_State *, image_t *);