diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3e9736675..0bece0ad0 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ pkg_check_modules(AVCODEC REQUIRED libavcodec>=57.0)
 pkg_check_modules(AVFORMAT REQUIRED libavformat>=57.0)
 pkg_check_modules(AVUTIL REQUIRED libavutil>=56.0)
 pkg_check_modules(SWSCALE REQUIRED libswscale>=5.0)
+elseif(${USE_OIIO})
+pkg_check_modules(OIIO REQUIRED OpenImageIO>=2.0.7)
 endif()
 find_library(LIBRT rt)
 if(${USE_TESTS})
@@ -150,6 +152,13 @@ target_link_directories(notcurses-static
   PUBLIC
     "${AVUTIL_STATIC_LIBRARY_DIRS}"
 )
+elseif(${USE_OIIO})
+target_include_directories(notcurses PUBLIC "${OIIO_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
+target_include_directories(notcurses-static PUBLIC "${OIIO_STATIC_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
+target_link_libraries(notcurses PRIVATE ${OIIO_LIBRARIES})
+target_link_libraries(notcurses-static PRIVATE ${OIIO_STATIC_LIBRARIES})
+target_link_directories(notcurses PRIVATE ${OIIO_LIBRARY_DIRS})
+target_link_directories(notcurses-static PRIVATE ${OIIO_STATIC_LIBRARY_DIRS})
 endif()
 
 if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL Debug)
diff --git a/include/notcurses/ncerrs.h b/include/notcurses/ncerrs.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4c9c37218
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/notcurses/ncerrs.h
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#ifndef NOTCURSES_NCERRS
+#define NOTCURSES_NCERRS
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+#include <errno.h>
+
+// Error values for more granular problem indication. We map to POSIX error
+// codes when possible. We need at least the union of POSIX (errno) and FFMpeg
+// (AVERROR) codes that we might see.
+typedef enum {
+  NCERR_SUCCESS = 0,
+  NCERR_NOMEM = ENOMEM,
+  NCERR_EOF = 0x464f45, // matches AVERROR_EOF
+} nc_err_e;
+
+static inline const char*
+nc_strerror(nc_err_e ncerr){
+  switch(ncerr){
+    case NCERR_SUCCESS: return "success";
+    case NCERR_NOMEM: return strerror(ENOMEM);
+    case NCERR_EOF: return "end of file";
+  };
+  return "unknown error";
+}
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+} // extern "C"
+#endif
+
+#endif