diff --git a/piet-gpu-hal/src/dx12.rs b/piet-gpu-hal/src/dx12.rs
index 337ca04..78ad449 100644
--- a/piet-gpu-hal/src/dx12.rs
+++ b/piet-gpu-hal/src/dx12.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ use raw_window_handle::{HasRawWindowHandle, RawWindowHandle};
 
 use smallvec::SmallVec;
 
-use crate::{BindType, BufferUsage, Error, GpuInfo, ImageLayout, MapMode, WorkgroupLimits};
+use crate::{BindType, BufferUsage, Error, GpuInfo, ImageLayout, MapMode, WorkgroupLimits, ImageFormat};
 
 use self::{
     descriptor::{CpuHeapRefOwned, DescriptorPool, GpuHeapRefOwned},
@@ -321,8 +321,11 @@ impl crate::backend::Device for Dx12Device {
         Ok(())
     }
 
-    unsafe fn create_image2d(&self, width: u32, height: u32) -> Result<Self::Image, Error> {
-        let format = winapi::shared::dxgiformat::DXGI_FORMAT_R8G8B8A8_UNORM;
+    unsafe fn create_image2d(&self, width: u32, height: u32, format: ImageFormat) -> Result<Self::Image, Error> {
+        let format = match format {
+            ImageFormat::A8 => winapi::shared::dxgiformat::DXGI_FORMAT_R8_UNORM,
+            ImageFormat::Rgba8 => winapi::shared::dxgiformat::DXGI_FORMAT_R8G8B8A8_UNORM,
+        };
         let resource = self
             .device
             .create_texture2d_buffer(width.into(), height, format, true)?;
diff --git a/piet-gpu-hal/src/hub.rs b/piet-gpu-hal/src/hub.rs
index ecfc2d4..8c5926a 100644
--- a/piet-gpu-hal/src/hub.rs
+++ b/piet-gpu-hal/src/hub.rs
@@ -308,10 +308,7 @@ impl Session {
         }
     }
 
-    /// Create an image.
-    ///
-    /// Currently this creates only a 2D image in RGBA8 format, with usage
-    /// so that it can be accessed by shaders and used for transfer.
+    /// Create an image of the given size and pixel format.
     pub unsafe fn create_image2d(
         &self,
         width: u32,
diff --git a/piet-gpu-hal/src/vulkan.rs b/piet-gpu-hal/src/vulkan.rs
index d5b31cb..924e2d6 100644
--- a/piet-gpu-hal/src/vulkan.rs
+++ b/piet-gpu-hal/src/vulkan.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ use smallvec::SmallVec;
 
 use crate::backend::Device as DeviceTrait;
 use crate::{
-    BindType, BufferUsage, Error, GpuInfo, ImageLayout, MapMode, SamplerParams, SubgroupSize,
+    BindType, BufferUsage, Error, GpuInfo, ImageFormat, ImageLayout, MapMode, SamplerParams, SubgroupSize,
     WorkgroupLimits,
 };
 
@@ -533,7 +533,7 @@ impl crate::backend::Device for VkDevice {
         Ok(())
     }
 
-    unsafe fn create_image2d(&self, width: u32, height: u32) -> Result<Self::Image, Error> {
+    unsafe fn create_image2d(&self, width: u32, height: u32, format: ImageFormat) -> Result<Self::Image, Error> {
         let device = &self.device.device;
         let extent = vk::Extent3D {
             width,
@@ -545,10 +545,14 @@ impl crate::backend::Device for VkDevice {
         let usage = vk::ImageUsageFlags::STORAGE
             | vk::ImageUsageFlags::TRANSFER_SRC
             | vk::ImageUsageFlags::TRANSFER_DST;
+        let vk_format = match format {
+            ImageFormat::A8 => vk::Format::R8_UNORM,
+            ImageFormat::Rgba8 => vk::Format::R8G8B8A8_UNORM,
+        };
         let image = device.create_image(
             &vk::ImageCreateInfo::builder()
                 .image_type(vk::ImageType::TYPE_2D)
-                .format(vk::Format::R8G8B8A8_UNORM)
+                .format(vk_format)
                 .extent(extent)
                 .mip_levels(1)
                 .array_layers(1)
diff --git a/piet-gpu/src/glyph_render.rs b/piet-gpu/src/glyph_render.rs
index b848703..8f4c626 100644
--- a/piet-gpu/src/glyph_render.rs
+++ b/piet-gpu/src/glyph_render.rs
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 //! An experimental API for glyph rendering.
 
 use piet::{kurbo::Affine, RenderContext};
-use swash::{scale::ScaleContext, CacheKey, FontDataRef, FontRef};
+use swash::{scale::ScaleContext, CacheKey, FontDataRef};
 
 use crate::{encoder::GlyphEncoder, PietGpuRenderContext};