diff --git a/tools/cmd/tool/main.go b/tools/cmd/tool/main.go
index 1ce84014d..ac925c584 100644
--- a/tools/cmd/tool/main.go
+++ b/tools/cmd/tool/main.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import (
 	"kitty/tools/cmd/show_error"
 	"kitty/tools/cmd/update_self"
 	"kitty/tools/tui"
+	"kitty/tools/utils/images"
 )
 
 var _ = fmt.Print
@@ -103,6 +104,8 @@ func KittyToolEntryPoints(root *cli.Command) {
 			return confirm_and_run_shebang(args)
 		},
 	})
+	// __render_image__
+	images.RenderEntryPoint(root)
 	// __generate_man_pages__
 	root.AddSubCommand(&cli.Command{
 		Name:            "__generate_man_pages__",
diff --git a/tools/utils/images/render.go b/tools/utils/images/render.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b7fde898
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/utils/images/render.go
@@ -0,0 +1,174 @@
+package images
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/binary"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"image"
+	"io"
+	"io/fs"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"time"
+
+	"kitty/tools/cli"
+	"kitty/tools/utils"
+)
+
+var _ = fmt.Print
+
+func convert_and_save_as_rgba_data(input_path, output_path string, perm os.FileMode) (err error) {
+	f, err := os.Open(input_path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+	image_data, err := OpenNativeImageFromReader(f)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if len(image_data.Frames) == 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("Image at %s has no frames", input_path)
+	}
+	img := image_data.Frames[0].Img
+	var final_img *image.NRGBA
+	switch img.(type) {
+	case *image.NRGBA:
+		final_img = img.(*image.NRGBA)
+	default:
+		b := img.Bounds()
+		final_img = image.NewNRGBA(image.Rect(0, 0, b.Dx(), b.Dy()))
+		ctx := Context{}
+		ctx.PasteCenter(final_img, img, nil)
+	}
+	b := final_img.Bounds()
+	header := make([]byte, 8)
+	var width = utils.Abs(b.Dx())
+	var height = utils.Abs(b.Dy())
+	binary.LittleEndian.PutUint32(header, uint32(width))
+	binary.LittleEndian.PutUint32(header[4:], uint32(height))
+	readers := []io.Reader{bytes.NewReader(header)}
+	stride := 4 * width
+
+	if final_img.Stride == stride {
+		readers = append(readers, bytes.NewReader(final_img.Pix))
+	} else {
+		p := final_img.Pix
+		for y := 0; y < b.Dy(); y++ {
+			readers = append(readers, bytes.NewReader(p[:min(stride, len(p))]))
+			p = p[final_img.Stride:]
+		}
+	}
+	return utils.AtomicUpdateFile(output_path, io.MultiReader(readers...), perm)
+}
+
+var now_implementation = time.Now
+var chmtime_after_creation = false
+
+func prune_cache(cdir string, max_entries int) error {
+	entries, err := os.ReadDir(cdir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if len(entries) <= max_entries {
+		return nil
+	}
+	now := now_implementation()
+	epoch := time.Unix(0, 0)
+	entries = utils.SortWithKey(entries, func(a fs.DirEntry) time.Duration {
+		if info, err := a.Info(); err == nil {
+			return now.Sub(info.ModTime())
+		}
+		return now.Sub(epoch)
+	})
+	for _, x := range entries[max_entries:] {
+		if err = os.Remove(filepath.Join(cdir, x.Name())); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func render_image(src_path, cdir string, max_cache_entries int) (output_path string, err error) {
+	src_path, err = filepath.EvalSymlinks(src_path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	lock_file := filepath.Join(cdir, "lock")
+	lockf, err := os.OpenFile(lock_file, os.O_CREATE|os.O_RDWR, 0600)
+	defer lockf.Close()
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	if err = utils.LockFileExclusive(lockf); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("Failed to lock cache file %s with error: %w", lock_file, err)
+	}
+	defer func() {
+		utils.UnlockFile(lockf)
+	}()
+	output_path = filepath.Join(cdir, hex.EncodeToString(sha256.New().Sum([]byte(src_path)))) + ".rgba"
+	needs_update := true
+	input_info, err := os.Stat(src_path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	output_info, err := os.Stat(output_path)
+	if err == nil {
+		needs_update = input_info.Size() != output_info.Size() || input_info.ModTime().After(output_info.ModTime())
+	} else {
+		if !errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	if needs_update {
+		if err = convert_and_save_as_rgba_data(src_path, output_path, 0600); err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+		if chmtime_after_creation {
+			n := now_implementation()
+			if err = os.Chtimes(output_path, n, n); err != nil {
+				return
+			}
+		}
+		if err = prune_cache(cdir, max_cache_entries); err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+	} else {
+		n := now_implementation()
+		if err = os.Chtimes(output_path, n, n); err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	return
+}
+
+func RenderEntryPoint(root *cli.Command) {
+	root.AddSubCommand(&cli.Command{
+		Name:            "__render_image__",
+		Hidden:          true,
+		OnlyArgsAllowed: true,
+		Run: func(cmd *cli.Command, args []string) (rc int, err error) {
+			if len(args) != 1 {
+				return 1, fmt.Errorf("Usage: render input_image_path")
+			}
+			src_path, err := filepath.EvalSymlinks(args[0])
+			if err != nil {
+				return 1, err
+			}
+			cdir := utils.CacheDir()
+			cdir = filepath.Join(cdir, "rgba")
+			if err = os.MkdirAll(cdir, 0755); err != nil {
+				return 1, err
+			}
+			if output_path, err := render_image(src_path, cdir, 32); err != nil {
+				return 1, err
+			} else {
+				fmt.Println(output_path)
+			}
+			return
+		},
+	})
+}
diff --git a/tools/utils/images/render_test.go b/tools/utils/images/render_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f4eec6894
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/utils/images/render_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+package images
+
+import (
+	"encoding/binary"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
+)
+
+var _ = fmt.Print
+
+var one_pixel_gray_png = []byte{137, 80, 78, 71, 13, 10, 26, 10, 0, 0, 0, 13, 73, 72, 68, 82, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 8, 0, 0, 0, 0, 58, 126, 155, 85, 0, 0, 0, 10, 73, 68, 65, 84, 120, 1, 99, 176, 5, 0, 0, 63, 0, 62, 18, 174, 200, 16, 0, 0, 0, 0, 73, 69, 78, 68, 174, 66, 96, 130}
+
+func TestRenderCache(t *testing.T) {
+	chmtime_after_creation = true
+	epoch := time.Now()
+	now_implementation = func() time.Time {
+		epoch = epoch.Add(3 * time.Second)
+		return epoch
+	}
+	defer func() {
+		chmtime_after_creation = false
+		now_implementation = time.Now
+	}()
+	tmp := t.TempDir()
+	cdir := filepath.Join(tmp, "cache")
+	if err := os.Mkdir(cdir, 0777); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	srcs := make([]string, 0, 5)
+	outputs := make([]string, 0, 5)
+	const max_cache_entries = 2
+	for i := range max_cache_entries * 2 {
+		name := fmt.Sprintf(`%d.png`, i)
+		src_path := filepath.Join(tmp, name)
+		srcs = append(srcs, src_path)
+		if err := os.WriteFile(src_path, one_pixel_gray_png, 0644); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		output_path, err := render_image(src_path, cdir, max_cache_entries)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		outputs = append(outputs, output_path)
+		if entries, err := os.ReadDir(cdir); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		} else if len(entries) > max_cache_entries {
+			t.Fatalf("Too many files in cache dir %d > %d", len(entries), max_cache_entries)
+		}
+	}
+	exists := func(path string) bool {
+		_, err := os.Stat(path)
+		return err == nil
+	}
+	mtime := func(path string) time.Time {
+		ans, err := os.Stat(path)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		return ans.ModTime()
+	}
+	for i, x := range outputs[len(outputs)-max_cache_entries:] {
+		if !exists(x) {
+			t.Fatalf("The %d cache entry does not exist", max_cache_entries+i)
+		}
+	}
+	o := outputs[len(outputs)-max_cache_entries:]
+	if mtime(o[0]).After(mtime(o[1])) {
+		t.Fatalf("The mtimes are not monotonic")
+	}
+	s := srcs[len(srcs)-max_cache_entries:]
+	output_path, err := render_image(s[0], cdir, max_cache_entries)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if output_path != o[0] {
+		t.Fatalf("Output path change on rerun")
+	}
+	if mtime(o[1]).After(mtime(o[0])) || mtime(o[1]).Equal(mtime(o[0])) {
+		t.Fatalf("The mtime was not updated")
+	}
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(output_path)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(data) != 12 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected data length: %d != %d", len(data), 12)
+	}
+	if width, height := binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(data), binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(data[4:]); width != 1 || height != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected dimensions: %dx%d", width, height)
+	}
+	if diff := cmp.Diff(data[8:], []byte{61, 61, 61, 255}); diff != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected pixel: %s", diff)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/tools/utils/misc.go b/tools/utils/misc.go
index 779112bd8..5f9ed25b8 100644
--- a/tools/utils/misc.go
+++ b/tools/utils/misc.go
@@ -310,3 +310,10 @@ func FunctionName(a any) string {
 	}
 	return ""
 }
+
+func Abs[T constraints.Integer](x T) T {
+	if x < 0 {
+		return -x
+	}
+	return x
+}