diff --git a/wezterm/src/gui/glyphcache.rs b/wezterm/src/gui/glyphcache.rs
index 15b4f7836..07282eef3 100644
--- a/wezterm/src/gui/glyphcache.rs
+++ b/wezterm/src/gui/glyphcache.rs
@@ -253,7 +253,11 @@ impl<T: Texture2d> GlyphCache<T> {
         Ok(Rc::new(glyph))
     }
 
-    pub fn cached_image(&mut self, image_data: &Arc<ImageData>) -> anyhow::Result<Sprite<T>> {
+    pub fn cached_image(
+        &mut self,
+        image_data: &Arc<ImageData>,
+        padding: Option<usize>,
+    ) -> anyhow::Result<Sprite<T>> {
         if let Some(sprite) = self.image_cache.get(&image_data.id()) {
             return Ok(sprite.clone());
         }
@@ -266,7 +270,7 @@ impl<T: Texture2d> GlyphCache<T> {
             decoded_image.to_vec(),
         );
 
-        let sprite = self.atlas.allocate(&image)?;
+        let sprite = self.atlas.allocate_with_padding(&image, padding)?;
 
         self.image_cache.insert(image_data.id(), sprite.clone());
 
diff --git a/wezterm/src/gui/termwindow.rs b/wezterm/src/gui/termwindow.rs
index bf7d00dfb..5ed6a8dd6 100644
--- a/wezterm/src/gui/termwindow.rs
+++ b/wezterm/src/gui/termwindow.rs
@@ -2501,7 +2501,7 @@ impl TermWindow {
 
             quad.set_texture(white_space);
             if let Some(im) = self.window_background.as_ref() {
-                let sprite = gl_state.glyph_cache.borrow_mut().cached_image(im)?;
+                let sprite = gl_state.glyph_cache.borrow_mut().cached_image(im, None)?;
                 quad.set_texture(sprite.texture_coords());
                 quad.set_is_background_image();
             }
@@ -2832,10 +2832,22 @@ impl TermWindow {
                     if let Some(image) = attrs.image() {
                         // Render iTerm2 style image attributes
 
+                        let padding = self
+                            .render_metrics
+                            .cell_size
+                            .height
+                            .max(self.render_metrics.cell_size.width)
+                            as usize;
+                        let padding = if padding.is_power_of_two() {
+                            padding
+                        } else {
+                            padding.next_power_of_two()
+                        };
+
                         let sprite = gl_state
                             .glyph_cache
                             .borrow_mut()
-                            .cached_image(image.image_data())?;
+                            .cached_image(image.image_data(), Some(padding))?;
                         let width = sprite.coords.size.width;
                         let height = sprite.coords.size.height;
 
diff --git a/window/src/bitmaps/atlas.rs b/window/src/bitmaps/atlas.rs
index 957361d89..602c58ea7 100644
--- a/window/src/bitmaps/atlas.rs
+++ b/window/src/bitmaps/atlas.rs
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@ where
             "texture must be square!"
         );
         let side = texture.width();
+        let iside = side as isize;
+
+        let image = crate::Image::new(side, side);
+        let rect = Rect::new(Point::new(0, 0), Size::new(iside, iside));
+        texture.write(rect, &image);
+
         let allocator = AtlasAllocator::new(AtlasSize::new(side.try_into()?, side.try_into()?));
         Ok(Self {
             texture: Rc::clone(texture),
@@ -54,6 +60,14 @@ where
 
     /// Reserve space for a sprite of the given size
     pub fn allocate(&mut self, im: &dyn BitmapImage) -> Result<Sprite<T>, OutOfTextureSpace> {
+        self.allocate_with_padding(im, None)
+    }
+
+    pub fn allocate_with_padding(
+        &mut self,
+        im: &dyn BitmapImage,
+        padding: Option<usize>,
+    ) -> Result<Sprite<T>, OutOfTextureSpace> {
         let (width, height) = im.image_dimensions();
 
         // If we can't convert the sizes to i32, then we'll never
@@ -68,8 +82,8 @@ where
         // We pad each sprite reservation with blank space to avoid
         // surprising and unexpected artifacts when the texture is
         // interpolated on to the render surface.
-        let reserve_width = reserve_width + PADDING * 2;
-        let reserve_height = reserve_height + PADDING * 2;
+        let reserve_width = reserve_width + padding.unwrap_or(0) as i32 + PADDING * 2;
+        let reserve_height = reserve_height + padding.unwrap_or(0) as i32 + PADDING * 2;
 
         if let Some(allocation) = self
             .allocator