diff --git a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gl/cogl-driver-gl.c b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gl/cogl-driver-gl.c
index 2b9a49c73..1cc63e82f 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gl/cogl-driver-gl.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gl/cogl-driver-gl.c
@@ -174,7 +174,15 @@ _cogl_driver_pixel_format_to_gl (CoglContext *context,
     case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_BGRA_8888:
     case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_BGRA_8888_PRE:
       glintformat = GL_RGBA;
-      glformat = GL_BGRA;
+      /* If the driver has texture_swizzle, pretend internal
+       * and buffer format are the same here, the pixels
+       * will be flipped through this extension.
+       */
+      if (_cogl_has_private_feature
+          (context, COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_TEXTURE_SWIZZLE))
+        glformat = GL_RGBA;
+      else
+        glformat = GL_BGRA;
       gltype = GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE;
       break;
 
diff --git a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gl/cogl-texture-driver-gl.c b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gl/cogl-texture-driver-gl.c
index c76a0cf4b..d5ee4b4f6 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gl/cogl-texture-driver-gl.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gl/cogl-texture-driver-gl.c
@@ -114,6 +114,18 @@ _cogl_texture_driver_gen (CoglContext *ctx,
                                  red_swizzle) );
     }
 
+  /* If swizzle extension is available, prefer it to flip bgra buffers to rgba */
+  if ((internal_format == COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_BGRA_8888 ||
+       internal_format == COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_BGRA_8888_PRE) &&
+      _cogl_has_private_feature (ctx, COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_TEXTURE_SWIZZLE))
+    {
+      static const GLint bgra_swizzle[] = { GL_BLUE, GL_GREEN, GL_RED, GL_ALPHA };
+
+      GE( ctx, glTexParameteriv (gl_target,
+                                 GL_TEXTURE_SWIZZLE_RGBA,
+                                 bgra_swizzle) );
+    }
+
   return tex;
 }