diff --git a/src/event_loop/linux.rs b/src/event_loop/linux.rs
index ae0be6cf..315dc374 100644
--- a/src/event_loop/linux.rs
+++ b/src/event_loop/linux.rs
@@ -2,11 +2,10 @@
 //! of a main thread does not exist there. Because of that, this mostly just serves as a way to
 //! delegate expensive processing to another thread.
 
-use crossbeam::channel;
-use std::sync::{Arc, Weak};
-use std::thread::{self, JoinHandle, ThreadId};
+use std::sync::Arc;
+use std::thread::{self, ThreadId};
 
-use super::{EventLoop, MainThreadExecutor};
+use super::{BackgroundThread, EventLoop, MainThreadExecutor};
 use crate::util::permit_alloc;
 
 /// See [`EventLoop`][super::EventLoop].
@@ -16,25 +15,13 @@ pub(crate) struct LinuxEventLoop<T, E> {
     /// directly.
     executor: Arc<E>,
 
+    /// The actual background thread. The implementation is shared with the background thread used
+    /// in other backends.
+    background_thread: BackgroundThread<T, E>,
+
     /// The ID of the main thread. In practice this is the ID of the thread that created this task
     /// queue.
     main_thread_id: ThreadId,
-
-    /// A thread that act as our worker thread. When [`schedule_gui()`][Self::schedule_gui()] is
-    /// called, this thread will be woken up to execute the task on the executor. This is wrapped in
-    /// an `Option` so the thread can be taken out of it and joined when this struct gets dropped.
-    worker_thread: Option<JoinHandle<()>>,
-    /// A channel for waking up the worker thread and having it perform one of the tasks from
-    /// [`Message`].
-    tasks_sender: channel::Sender<Message<T>>,
-}
-
-/// A message for communicating with the worker thread.
-enum Message<T> {
-    /// A new task for the event loop to execute.
-    Task(T),
-    /// Shut down the worker thread.
-    Shutdown,
 }
 
 impl<T, E> EventLoop<T, E> for LinuxEventLoop<T, E>
@@ -43,19 +30,10 @@ where
     E: MainThreadExecutor<T> + 'static,
 {
     fn new_and_spawn(executor: Arc<E>) -> Self {
-        let (tasks_sender, tasks_receiver) = channel::bounded(super::TASK_QUEUE_CAPACITY);
-
         Self {
             executor: executor.clone(),
+            background_thread: BackgroundThread::get_or_create(executor),
             main_thread_id: thread::current().id(),
-            // With our drop implementation we guarantee that this thread never outlives this struct
-            worker_thread: Some(
-                thread::Builder::new()
-                    .name(String::from("worker"))
-                    .spawn(move || worker_thread(tasks_receiver, Arc::downgrade(&executor)))
-                    .expect("Could not spawn worker thread"),
-            ),
-            tasks_sender,
         }
     }
 
@@ -64,14 +42,14 @@ where
             self.executor.execute(task, true);
             true
         } else {
-            self.tasks_sender.try_send(Message::Task(task)).is_ok()
+            self.background_thread.schedule(task)
         }
     }
 
     fn schedule_background(&self, task: T) -> bool {
         // This event loop implementation already uses a thread that's completely decoupled from the
         // operating system's or the host's main thread, so we don't need _another_ thread here
-        self.tasks_sender.try_send(Message::Task(task)).is_ok()
+        self.background_thread.schedule(task)
     }
 
     fn is_main_thread(&self) -> bool {
@@ -80,45 +58,3 @@ where
         permit_alloc(|| thread::current().id() == self.main_thread_id)
     }
 }
-
-impl<T, E> Drop for LinuxEventLoop<T, E> {
-    fn drop(&mut self) {
-        self.tasks_sender
-            .send(Message::Shutdown)
-            .expect("Failed while sending worker thread shutdown request");
-        if let Some(join_handle) = self.worker_thread.take() {
-            join_handle.join().expect("Worker thread panicked");
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-/// The worker thread used in [`EventLoop`] that executes incoming tasks on the event loop's
-/// executor.
-fn worker_thread<T, E>(tasks_receiver: channel::Receiver<Message<T>>, executor: Weak<E>)
-where
-    T: Send,
-    E: MainThreadExecutor<T>,
-{
-    loop {
-        match tasks_receiver.recv() {
-            Ok(Message::Task(task)) => match executor.upgrade() {
-                Some(e) => e.execute(task, true),
-                None => {
-                    nih_trace!(
-                        "Received a new task but the executor is no longer alive, shutting down \
-                         worker"
-                    );
-                    return;
-                }
-            },
-            Ok(Message::Shutdown) => return,
-            Err(err) => {
-                nih_trace!(
-                    "Worker thread got disconnected unexpectedly, shutting down: {}",
-                    err
-                );
-                return;
-            }
-        }
-    }
-}