diff --git a/app.py b/app.py
index 5b6ca61..bf2eeed 100644
--- a/app.py
+++ b/app.py
@@ -52,31 +52,40 @@ def remove_alpha(img):
 def bleh_image_from_url(url, dithering, mode):
     resp = requests.get(url, stream=True)
     resp.raise_for_status()
+    img = Image.open(io.BytesIO(resp.content))
+    img = remove_alpha(img)
+    buf = io.BytesIO()
+    img.save(buf, format="PNG")
+    image_bytes_no_alpha = buf.getvalue()
     bleh = subprocess.Popen(
         ["./bleh", "-o", "-", "-mode", f"{mode}", "-d", f"{dithering}", "-"], 
         stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-    out, err = bleh.communicate(resp.content)
+    out, err = bleh.communicate(image_bytes_no_alpha)
     if bleh.returncode != 0:
         raise RuntimeError(f"Driver failed: {err.decode()}")
-    img = Image.open(io.BytesIO(out))
-    img = remove_alpha(img)
-    img = img.convert("L")
+    img = Image.open(io.BytesIO(out)).convert("L")
     # Optionally check width, pad/resize if needed
     if img.width != IMAGE_WIDTH:
         img = img.resize((IMAGE_WIDTH, img.height), Image.LANCZOS)
     return img
 
+
 def bleh_image_from_bytes(image_bytes, dithering, mode):
+    # OPEN the uploaded image and remove alpha
+    img = Image.open(io.BytesIO(image_bytes))
+    img = remove_alpha(img)
+    buf = io.BytesIO()
+    img.save(buf, format="PNG")
+    image_bytes_no_alpha = buf.getvalue()
+    # pass that to bleh
     bleh = subprocess.Popen(
         ["./bleh", "-o", "-", "-mode", f"{mode}", "-d", f"{dithering}", "-"],
         stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE
     )
-    out, err = bleh.communicate(image_bytes)
+    out, err = bleh.communicate(image_bytes_no_alpha)
     if bleh.returncode != 0:
         raise RuntimeError(f"Driver failed: {err.decode()}")
-    img = Image.open(io.BytesIO(out))
-    img = remove_alpha(img)
-    img = img.convert("L")
+    img = Image.open(io.BytesIO(out)).convert("L")
     if img.width != IMAGE_WIDTH:
         img = img.resize((IMAGE_WIDTH, img.height), Image.LANCZOS)
     return img