diff --git a/cogl/cogl/cogl-driver.h b/cogl/cogl/cogl-driver.h
index a87e57285..4b639df87 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/cogl-driver.h
+++ b/cogl/cogl/cogl-driver.h
@@ -70,6 +70,12 @@ struct _CoglDriverVtable
                           GLenum *out_glformat,
                           GLenum *out_gltype);
 
+  gboolean
+  (* read_pixels_format_supported) (CoglContext *ctx,
+                                    GLenum gl_intformat,
+                                    GLenum gl_format,
+                                    GLenum gl_type);
+
   gboolean
   (* update_features) (CoglContext *context,
                        GError **error);
diff --git a/cogl/cogl/cogl-private.h b/cogl/cogl/cogl-private.h
index f842047f0..16d01a651 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/cogl-private.h
+++ b/cogl/cogl/cogl-private.h
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ typedef enum
   COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_TEXTURE_FORMAT_HALF_FLOAT,
   COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_UNPACK_SUBIMAGE,
   COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_SAMPLER_OBJECTS,
-  COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_READ_PIXELS_ANY_FORMAT,
+  COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_READ_PIXELS_ANY_STRIDE,
   COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_FORMAT_CONVERSION,
   COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_QUERY_FRAMEBUFFER_BITS,
   COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_QUERY_TEXTURE_PARAMETERS,
diff --git a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-framebuffer-gl.c b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-framebuffer-gl.c
index dfd9b9913..f809d9382 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-framebuffer-gl.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/cogl-framebuffer-gl.c
@@ -429,6 +429,9 @@ cogl_gl_framebuffer_read_pixels_into_bitmap (CoglFramebufferDriver  *driver,
   GLenum gl_format;
   GLenum gl_type;
   GLenum gl_pack_enum = GL_FALSE;
+  int bytes_per_pixel;
+  gboolean is_read_pixels_format_supported;
+  gboolean format_mismatch;
   gboolean pack_invert_set;
   int status = FALSE;
 
@@ -466,21 +469,21 @@ cogl_gl_framebuffer_read_pixels_into_bitmap (CoglFramebufferDriver  *driver,
   else
     pack_invert_set = FALSE;
 
-  /* Under GLES only GL_RGBA with GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE as well as an
-     implementation specific format under
-     GL_IMPLEMENTATION_COLOR_READ_FORMAT_OES and
-     GL_IMPLEMENTATION_COLOR_READ_TYPE_OES is supported. We could try
-     to be more clever and check if the requested type matches that
-     but we would need some reliable functions to convert from GL
-     types to Cogl types. For now, lets just always read in
-     GL_RGBA/GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE and convert if necessary. We also need
-     to use this intermediate buffer if the rowstride has padding
-     because GLES does not support setting GL_ROW_LENGTH */
-  if ((!_cogl_has_private_feature
-       (ctx, COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_READ_PIXELS_ANY_FORMAT) &&
-       (gl_format != GL_RGBA || gl_type != GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE ||
-        cogl_bitmap_get_rowstride (bitmap) != 4 * width)) ||
-      (required_format & ~COGL_PREMULT_BIT) != (format & ~COGL_PREMULT_BIT))
+  bytes_per_pixel = cogl_pixel_format_get_bytes_per_pixel (format, 0);
+  is_read_pixels_format_supported =
+    ctx->driver_vtable->read_pixels_format_supported (ctx,
+                                                      gl_intformat,
+                                                      gl_format,
+                                                      gl_type);
+  format_mismatch =
+    (required_format & ~COGL_PREMULT_BIT) !=
+    (format & ~COGL_PREMULT_BIT);
+
+  if (!is_read_pixels_format_supported ||
+      format_mismatch ||
+      (!_cogl_has_private_feature (ctx,
+                                   COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_READ_PIXELS_ANY_STRIDE) &&
+       cogl_bitmap_get_rowstride (bitmap) != bytes_per_pixel * width))
     {
       CoglBitmap *tmp_bmp;
       CoglPixelFormat read_format;
@@ -488,9 +491,10 @@ cogl_gl_framebuffer_read_pixels_into_bitmap (CoglFramebufferDriver  *driver,
       uint8_t *tmp_data;
       gboolean succeeded;
 
-      if (_cogl_has_private_feature
-          (ctx, COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_READ_PIXELS_ANY_FORMAT))
-        read_format = required_format;
+      if (is_read_pixels_format_supported)
+        {
+          read_format = required_format;
+        }
       else
         {
           read_format = COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_RGBA_8888;
diff --git a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gl/cogl-driver-gl.c b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gl/cogl-driver-gl.c
index 7c9449f5b..a05fe61b6 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gl/cogl-driver-gl.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gl/cogl-driver-gl.c
@@ -354,6 +354,15 @@ _cogl_driver_pixel_format_to_gl (CoglContext     *context,
   return required_format;
 }
 
+static gboolean
+_cogl_driver_read_pixels_format_supported (CoglContext *context,
+                                           GLenum       glintformat,
+                                           GLenum       glformat,
+                                           GLenum       gltype)
+{
+  return TRUE;
+}
+
 static gboolean
 _cogl_get_gl_version (CoglContext *ctx,
                       int *major_out,
@@ -517,7 +526,7 @@ _cogl_driver_update_features (CoglContext *ctx,
     }
 
   COGL_FLAGS_SET (private_features,
-                  COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_READ_PIXELS_ANY_FORMAT, TRUE);
+                  COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_READ_PIXELS_ANY_STRIDE, TRUE);
   COGL_FLAGS_SET (private_features, COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_ANY_GL, TRUE);
   COGL_FLAGS_SET (private_features,
                   COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_FORMAT_CONVERSION, TRUE);
@@ -582,6 +591,7 @@ _cogl_driver_gl =
     _cogl_gl_get_graphics_reset_status,
     _cogl_driver_pixel_format_from_gl_internal,
     _cogl_driver_pixel_format_to_gl,
+    _cogl_driver_read_pixels_format_supported,
     _cogl_driver_update_features,
     _cogl_driver_gl_create_framebuffer_driver,
     _cogl_driver_gl_flush_framebuffer_state,
diff --git a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gles/cogl-driver-gles.c b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gles/cogl-driver-gles.c
index 59cf0c07e..41387a3eb 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gles/cogl-driver-gles.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gles/cogl-driver-gles.c
@@ -271,6 +271,18 @@ _cogl_driver_pixel_format_to_gl (CoglContext     *context,
   return required_format;
 }
 
+static gboolean
+_cogl_driver_read_pixels_format_supported (CoglContext *context,
+                                           GLenum       glintformat,
+                                           GLenum       glformat,
+                                           GLenum       gltype)
+{
+  if (glformat == GL_RGBA && gltype == GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE)
+    return TRUE;
+
+  return FALSE;
+}
+
 static gboolean
 _cogl_get_gl_version (CoglContext *ctx,
                       int *major_out,
@@ -477,6 +489,7 @@ _cogl_driver_gles =
     _cogl_gl_get_graphics_reset_status,
     _cogl_driver_pixel_format_from_gl_internal,
     _cogl_driver_pixel_format_to_gl,
+    _cogl_driver_read_pixels_format_supported,
     _cogl_driver_update_features,
     _cogl_driver_gl_create_framebuffer_driver,
     _cogl_driver_gl_flush_framebuffer_state,
diff --git a/cogl/cogl/driver/nop/cogl-driver-nop.c b/cogl/cogl/driver/nop/cogl-driver-nop.c
index 2cde8576b..f18e78873 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/driver/nop/cogl-driver-nop.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/driver/nop/cogl-driver-nop.c
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ _cogl_driver_nop =
     NULL, /* get_graphics_reset_status */
     NULL, /* pixel_format_from_gl_internal */
     NULL, /* pixel_format_to_gl */
+    NULL, /* read_pixels_format_supported */
     _cogl_driver_update_features,
     _cogl_driver_nop_create_framebuffer_driver,
     _cogl_driver_nop_flush_framebuffer_state,