diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index 33c7b7f..e60c15a 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
     });
     vaxis.addImport("ziglyph", ziglyph.module("ziglyph"));
 
+    const zigimg = b.dependency("zigimg", .{
+        .optimize = optimize,
+        .target = target,
+    });
+    vaxis.addImport("zigimg", zigimg.module("zigimg"));
+
     const exe = b.addExecutable(.{
         .name = "vaxis",
         .root_source_file = .{ .path = "examples/text_input.zig" },
@@ -39,6 +45,7 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
         .optimize = optimize,
     });
     lib_unit_tests.root_module.addImport("ziglyph", ziglyph.module("ziglyph"));
+    lib_unit_tests.root_module.addImport("zigimg", zigimg.module("zigimg"));
 
     const run_lib_unit_tests = b.addRunArtifact(lib_unit_tests);
 
diff --git a/build.zig.zon b/build.zig.zon
index db07220..172aafd 100644
--- a/build.zig.zon
+++ b/build.zig.zon
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@
             .url = "https://codeberg.org/dude_the_builder/ziglyph/archive/main.tar.gz",
 	    .hash = "12208553f3f47e51494e187f4c0e6f6b3844e3993436cad4a0e8c4db4e99645967b5",
         },
+	.zigimg = .{
+	    .url = "https://github.com/zigimg/zigimg/archive/f6998808f283f8d3c2ef34e8b4af423bc1786f32.tar.gz",
+	    .hash = "12202ee5d22ade0c300e9e7eae4c1951bda3d5f236fe1a139eb3613b43e2f12a88db",
+	  }
     },
 
     .paths = .{
diff --git a/src/Image.zig b/src/Image.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..638641b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Image.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+const math = std.math;
+const testing = std.testing;
+const zigimg = @import("zigimg");
+
+const Window = @import("Window.zig");
+const Winsize = @import("Tty.zig").Winsize;
+
+const Image = @This();
+
+pub const Source = union(enum) {
+    /// loads an image from a path. path can be relative to cwd, or absolute
+    path: []const u8,
+    /// loads an image from raw bytes
+    mem: []const u8,
+};
+
+pub const Protocol = enum {
+    kitty,
+    // TODO: sixel, full block, half block, quad block
+};
+
+/// the decoded image
+img: zigimg.Image,
+
+/// unique identifier for this image
+id: u32,
+
+/// width of the image, in cells
+cell_width: usize,
+/// height of the image, in cells
+cell_height: usize,
+
+/// initialize a new image
+pub fn init(
+    alloc: std.mem.Allocator,
+    winsize: Winsize,
+    src: Source,
+    id: u32,
+) !Image {
+    const img = switch (src) {
+        .path => |path| try zigimg.Image.fromFilePath(alloc, path),
+        .mem => |bytes| try zigimg.Image.fromMemory(alloc, bytes),
+    };
+    // cell geometry
+    const pix_per_col = try math.divCeil(usize, winsize.x_pixel, winsize.cols);
+    const pix_per_row = try math.divCeil(usize, winsize.y_pixel, winsize.rows);
+
+    const cell_width = math.divCeil(usize, img.width, pix_per_col) catch 0;
+    const cell_height = math.divCeil(usize, img.height, pix_per_row) catch 0;
+
+    return Image{
+        .img = img,
+        .cell_width = cell_width,
+        .cell_height = cell_height,
+        .id = id,
+    };
+}
+
+pub fn deinit(self: *Image) void {
+    self.img.deinit();
+}
+
+pub fn draw(self: *Image, win: Window, placement_id: u32) !void {
+    try win.writeImage(win.x_off, win.y_off, self, placement_id);
+}
+
+test "image" {
+    const alloc = testing.allocator;
+    var img = try init(
+        alloc,
+        .{
+            .rows = 1,
+            .cols = 1,
+            .x_pixel = 1,
+            .y_pixel = 1,
+        },
+        .{ .path = "vaxis.png" },
+    );
+    defer img.deinit();
+    try testing.expectEqual(1, img.cell_width);
+    try testing.expectEqual(1, img.cell_height);
+}
diff --git a/src/InternalScreen.zig b/src/InternalScreen.zig
index 7bdda2d..abd3d85 100644
--- a/src/InternalScreen.zig
+++ b/src/InternalScreen.zig
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ const assert = std.debug.assert;
 const Style = @import("cell.zig").Style;
 const Cell = @import("cell.zig").Cell;
 const Shape = @import("Mouse.zig").Shape;
+const Image = @import("Image.zig").Placement;
+const Placement = @import("Screen.zig").Placement;
 
 const log = std.log.scoped(.internal_screen);
 
@@ -35,10 +37,14 @@ cursor_vis: bool = false,
 
 mouse_shape: Shape = .default,
 
+images: std.ArrayList(Placement) = undefined,
+
 /// sets each cell to the default cell
 pub fn init(alloc: std.mem.Allocator, w: usize, h: usize) !InternalScreen {
-    var screen = InternalScreen{};
-    screen.buf = try alloc.alloc(InternalCell, w * h);
+    var screen = InternalScreen{
+        .buf = try alloc.alloc(InternalCell, w * h),
+        .images = std.ArrayList(Placement).init(alloc),
+    };
     for (screen.buf, 0..) |_, i| {
         screen.buf[i] = .{
             .char = try std.ArrayList(u8).initCapacity(alloc, 1),
@@ -52,6 +58,7 @@ pub fn init(alloc: std.mem.Allocator, w: usize, h: usize) !InternalScreen {
 }
 
 pub fn deinit(self: *InternalScreen, alloc: std.mem.Allocator) void {
+    self.images.deinit();
     for (self.buf, 0..) |_, i| {
         self.buf[i].char.deinit();
         self.buf[i].uri.deinit();
diff --git a/src/Screen.zig b/src/Screen.zig
index d87b6b5..4be5884 100644
--- a/src/Screen.zig
+++ b/src/Screen.zig
@@ -3,11 +3,19 @@ const assert = std.debug.assert;
 
 const Cell = @import("cell.zig").Cell;
 const Shape = @import("Mouse.zig").Shape;
+const Image = @import("Image.zig");
 
 const log = std.log.scoped(.screen);
 
 const Screen = @This();
 
+pub const Placement = struct {
+    img: *Image,
+    placement_id: u32,
+    col: usize,
+    row: usize,
+};
+
 width: usize = 0,
 height: usize = 0,
 
@@ -21,11 +29,14 @@ unicode: bool = false,
 
 mouse_shape: Shape = .default,
 
+images: std.ArrayList(Placement) = undefined,
+
 pub fn init(alloc: std.mem.Allocator, w: usize, h: usize) !Screen {
     var self = Screen{
         .buf = try alloc.alloc(Cell, w * h),
         .width = w,
         .height = h,
+        .images = std.ArrayList(Placement).init(alloc),
     };
     for (self.buf, 0..) |_, i| {
         self.buf[i] = .{};
@@ -34,6 +45,7 @@ pub fn init(alloc: std.mem.Allocator, w: usize, h: usize) !Screen {
 }
 pub fn deinit(self: *Screen, alloc: std.mem.Allocator) void {
     alloc.free(self.buf);
+    self.images.deinit();
 }
 
 /// writes a cell to a location. 0 indexed
@@ -50,3 +62,19 @@ pub fn writeCell(self: *Screen, col: usize, row: usize, cell: Cell) void {
     assert(i < self.buf.len);
     self.buf[i] = cell;
 }
+
+pub fn writeImage(
+    self: *Screen,
+    col: usize,
+    row: usize,
+    img: *Image,
+    placement_id: u32,
+) !void {
+    const p = Placement{
+        .img = img,
+        .placement_id = placement_id,
+        .col = col,
+        .row = row,
+    };
+    try self.images.append(p);
+}
diff --git a/src/Window.zig b/src/Window.zig
index cd5bc12..425ed03 100644
--- a/src/Window.zig
+++ b/src/Window.zig
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ const std = @import("std");
 
 const Screen = @import("Screen.zig");
 const Cell = @import("cell.zig").Cell;
+const Image = @import("Image.zig");
 const gw = @import("gwidth.zig");
 
 const log = std.log.scoped(.window);
@@ -68,9 +69,30 @@ pub fn writeCell(self: Window, col: usize, row: usize, cell: Cell) void {
     self.screen.writeCell(col + self.x_off, row + self.y_off, cell);
 }
 
+/// writes a cell to the location in the window
+pub fn writeImage(
+    self: Window,
+    col: usize,
+    row: usize,
+    img: *Image,
+    placement_id: u32,
+) !void {
+    if (self.height == 0 or self.width == 0) return;
+    if (self.height <= row or self.width <= col) return;
+    self.screen.writeImage(col, row, img, placement_id);
+}
+
 /// fills the window with the default cell
 pub fn clear(self: Window) void {
     self.fill(.{});
+    // we clear any image with it's first cell within this window
+    for (self.screen.images.items, 0..) |p, i| {
+        if (p.col >= self.x_off and p.col < self.width and
+            p.row >= self.y_off and p.row < self.height)
+        {
+            _ = self.screen.images.swapRemove(i);
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 /// returns the width of the grapheme. This depends on the terminal capabilities
diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index 1e760f7..6fd2407 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ pub fn init(comptime EventType: type, opts: Options) !Vaxis(EventType) {
 
 test {
     _ = @import("GraphemeCache.zig");
+    _ = @import("Image.zig");
     _ = @import("Key.zig");
     _ = @import("Mouse.zig");
     _ = @import("Options.zig");
diff --git a/src/vaxis.zig b/src/vaxis.zig
index 01fc846..b1a2b09 100644
--- a/src/vaxis.zig
+++ b/src/vaxis.zig
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ const Style = @import("cell.zig").Style;
 const Hyperlink = @import("cell.zig").Hyperlink;
 const gwidth = @import("gwidth.zig");
 const Shape = @import("Mouse.zig").Shape;
+const Placement = Screen.Placement;
 
 /// Vaxis is the entrypoint for a Vaxis application. The provided type T should
 /// be a tagged union which contains all of the events the application will
@@ -242,6 +243,7 @@ pub fn Vaxis(comptime T: type) type {
         // the next render call will refresh the entire screen
         pub fn queueRefresh(self: *Self) void {
             self.refresh = true;
+            self.screen_last.images.clearRetainingCapacity();
         }
 
         /// draws the screen to the terminal
@@ -278,6 +280,15 @@ pub fn Vaxis(comptime T: type) type {
             var cursor: Style = .{};
             var link: Hyperlink = .{};
 
+            // delete remove images from the screen by looping through the
+            // current state and comparing to the next state
+            for (self.screen_last.images.items) |last_img| {
+                const keep: bool = for (self.screen.images.items) |next_img| {
+                    if (std.meta.eql(last_img, next_img)) break true;
+                } else false;
+                if (keep) continue;
+            }
+
             var i: usize = 0;
             while (i < self.screen.buf.len) {
                 const cell = self.screen.buf[i];
diff --git a/vaxis.png b/vaxis.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cee9f63
Binary files /dev/null and b/vaxis.png differ