diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 09e0c295c..bbe41238d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ include(GNUInstallDirs)
 
 find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
 pkg_check_modules(TERMINFO REQUIRED tinfo>=6.1)
+pkg_check_modules(AVFORMAT REQUIRED libavformat)
 find_library(LIBRT rt)
 
 file(GLOB LIBSRCS CONFIGURE_DEPENDS src/lib/*.c)
@@ -21,10 +22,12 @@ target_include_directories(notcurses
     include
     "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/include"
     "${TERMINFO_INCLUDE_DIR}"
+    "${AVFORMAT_INCLUDE_DIR}"
 )
 target_link_libraries(notcurses
   PRIVATE
     "${TERMINFO_LIBRARIES}"
+    "${AVFORMAT_LIBRARIES}"
     "${LIBRT}"
 )
 set_target_properties(notcurses PROPERTIES
diff --git a/include/notcurses.h b/include/notcurses.h
index 5a19e4cca..7f641db11 100644
--- a/include/notcurses.h
+++ b/include/notcurses.h
@@ -356,6 +356,9 @@ cell_wide_p(const cell* c){
   return (c->channels & CELL_WIDEASIAN_MASK);
 }
 
+// multimedia functionality
+int notcurses_image_open(struct notcurses* nc, const char* filename);
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 } // extern "C"
 #endif
diff --git a/src/lib/libav.c b/src/lib/libav.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6f651b5b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/libav.c
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#include <libavutil/error.h>
+#include <libavformat/avformat.h>
+#include "notcurses.h"
+
+int notcurses_image_open(struct notcurses* nc, const char* filename){
+  AVFormatContext* ps = NULL;
+  int ret = avformat_open_input(&ps, filename, NULL, NULL);
+  if(ret < 0){
+    fprintf(stderr, "Couldn't open %s (%s)\n", filename, av_err2str(ret));
+    return ret;
+  }
+  avformat_free_context(ps);
+  return 0;
+}
diff --git a/tests/libav.cpp b/tests/libav.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3a34dfb4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/libav.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#include <notcurses.h>
+#include "main.h"
+
+class LibavTest : public :: testing::Test {
+ protected:
+  void SetUp() override {
+    notcurses_options nopts{};
+    nopts.outfd = STDIN_FILENO;
+    nc_ = notcurses_init(&nopts);
+    ASSERT_NE(nullptr, nc_);
+    n_ = notcurses_stdplane(nc_);
+    ASSERT_NE(nullptr, n_);
+  }
+
+  void TearDown() override {
+    if(nc_){
+      EXPECT_EQ(0, notcurses_stop(nc_));
+    }
+  }
+
+  struct notcurses* nc_{};
+  struct ncplane* n_{};
+};
+
+TEST_F(LibavTest, LoadImage) {
+  int ret = notcurses_image_open(nc_, "../tools/dsscaw-purp.png");
+  ASSERT_EQ(0, ret);
+}
diff --git a/tools/dsscaw-purp.png b/tools/dsscaw-purp.png
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..96f0047db
Binary files /dev/null and b/tools/dsscaw-purp.png differ