diff --git a/fiv-browser.c b/fiv-browser.c
index 7759c3a..345913b 100644
--- a/fiv-browser.c
+++ b/fiv-browser.c
@@ -254,8 +254,12 @@ draw_row(FivBrowser *self, cairo_t *cr, const Row *row)
 				border.top + extents.height + border.bottom);
 		}
 
-		gtk_render_background(
-			style, cr, border.left, border.top, extents.width, extents.height);
+		// Performance optimization--specifically targeting the checkerboard.
+		if (cairo_image_surface_get_format(item->entry->thumbnail) !=
+				CAIRO_FORMAT_RGB24) {
+			gtk_render_background(style, cr, border.left, border.top,
+				extents.width, extents.height);
+		}
 
 		gtk_render_frame(style, cr, 0, 0,
 			border.left + extents.width + border.right,
@@ -306,8 +310,9 @@ rescale_thumbnail(cairo_surface_t *thumbnail, double row_height)
 
 	int projected_width = round(scale_x * width);
 	int projected_height = round(scale_y * height);
+	cairo_format_t cairo_format = cairo_image_surface_get_format(thumbnail);
 	cairo_surface_t *scaled = cairo_image_surface_create(
-		CAIRO_FORMAT_ARGB32, projected_width, projected_height);
+		cairo_format, projected_width, projected_height);
 
 	// pixman can take gamma into account when scaling, unlike Cairo.
 	struct pixman_f_transform xform_floating;
@@ -315,7 +320,8 @@ rescale_thumbnail(cairo_surface_t *thumbnail, double row_height)
 
 	// PIXMAN_a8r8g8b8_sRGB can be used for gamma-correct results,
 	// but it's an incredibly slow transformation
-	pixman_format_code_t format = PIXMAN_a8r8g8b8;
+	pixman_format_code_t format =
+		cairo_format == CAIRO_FORMAT_RGB24 ? PIXMAN_x8r8g8b8 : PIXMAN_a8r8g8b8;
 
 	pixman_image_t *src = pixman_image_create_bits(format, width, height,
 		(uint32_t *) cairo_image_surface_get_data(thumbnail),
diff --git a/fiv-io.c b/fiv-io.c
index 7b83a09..a78d9c9 100644
--- a/fiv-io.c
+++ b/fiv-io.c
@@ -2366,9 +2366,15 @@ read_spng_thumbnail(
 	}
 
 	struct spng_ihdr ihdr = {};
+	struct spng_trns trns = {};
 	spng_get_ihdr(ctx, &ihdr);
+	bool may_be_translucent = !spng_get_trns(ctx, &trns) ||
+		ihdr.color_type == SPNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAYSCALE_ALPHA ||
+		ihdr.color_type == SPNG_COLOR_TYPE_TRUECOLOR_ALPHA;
+
 	cairo_surface_t *surface = cairo_image_surface_create(
-		CAIRO_FORMAT_ARGB32, ihdr.width, ihdr.height);
+		may_be_translucent ? CAIRO_FORMAT_ARGB32 : CAIRO_FORMAT_RGB24,
+		ihdr.width, ihdr.height);
 
 	cairo_status_t surface_status = cairo_surface_status(surface);
 	if (surface_status != CAIRO_STATUS_SUCCESS) {
@@ -2396,10 +2402,7 @@ read_spng_thumbnail(
 	}
 
 	// pixman can be mildly abused to do this operation, but it won't be faster.
-	struct spng_trns trns = {};
-	if (ihdr.color_type == SPNG_COLOR_TYPE_GRAYSCALE_ALPHA ||
-		ihdr.color_type == SPNG_COLOR_TYPE_TRUECOLOR_ALPHA ||
-		!spng_get_trns(ctx, &trns)) {
+	if (may_be_translucent) {
 		for (size_t i = size / sizeof *data; i--; ) {
 			const uint8_t *unit = (const uint8_t *) &data[i];
 			uint32_t a = unit[3],