diff --git a/src/lib/visual.c b/src/lib/visual.c
index bcae3e496..157eb749d 100644
--- a/src/lib/visual.c
+++ b/src/lib/visual.c
@@ -622,10 +622,11 @@ ncvisual* ncvisual_from_rgb_packed(const void* rgba, int rows, int rowstride,
         memcpy(&r, src + rowstride * y + 3 * x, 1);
         memcpy(&g, src + rowstride * y + 3 * x + 1, 1);
         memcpy(&b, src + rowstride * y + 3 * x + 2, 1);
-        ncpixel_set_a(&data[y * cols + x], alpha);
-        ncpixel_set_r(&data[y * cols + x], r);
-        ncpixel_set_g(&data[y * cols + x], g);
-        ncpixel_set_b(&data[y * cols + x], b);
+        ncpixel_set_a(&data[y * ncv->rowstride / 4 + x], alpha);
+        ncpixel_set_r(&data[y * ncv->rowstride / 4 + x], r);
+        ncpixel_set_g(&data[y * ncv->rowstride / 4 + x], g);
+        ncpixel_set_b(&data[y * ncv->rowstride / 4 + x], b);
+//fprintf(stderr, "RGBA: 0x%02x 0x%02x 0x%02x 0x%02x\n", r, g, b, alpha);
       }
     }
     ncvisual_set_data(ncv, data, true);
diff --git a/src/tests/visual.cpp b/src/tests/visual.cpp
index d2d01ca10..394bb19a0 100644
--- a/src/tests/visual.cpp
+++ b/src/tests/visual.cpp
@@ -10,6 +10,25 @@ TEST_CASE("Visual") {
   auto n_ = notcurses_stdplane(nc_);
   REQUIRE(n_);
 
+  // check that we properly populate RGB + A -> RGBA
+  SUBCASE("VisualFromRGBPacked") {
+    unsigned char rgb[13] = "\x88\x77\x66\x55\x44\x33\x22\x11\x00\x99\xaa\xbb";
+    unsigned char alpha = 0xff;
+    auto ncv = ncvisual_from_rgb_packed(rgb, 2, 6, 2, alpha);
+    REQUIRE(nullptr != ncv);
+    for(int y = 0 ; y < 2 ; ++y){
+      for(int x = 0 ; x < 2 ; ++x){
+        uint32_t p;
+        CHECK(0 == ncvisual_at_yx(ncv, y, x, &p));
+fprintf(stderr, "rgba: 0x%02x 0x%02x 0x%02x 0x%02x\n", ncpixel_r(p), ncpixel_g(p), ncpixel_b(p), ncpixel_a(p));
+        CHECK(ncpixel_r(p) == rgb[y * 6 + x * 3]);
+        CHECK(ncpixel_g(p) == rgb[y * 6 + x * 3 + 1]);
+        CHECK(ncpixel_b(p) == rgb[y * 6 + x * 3 + 2]);
+        CHECK(ncpixel_a(p) == alpha);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   // check that NCVISUAL_OPTION_HORALIGNED works in all three cases
   SUBCASE("VisualAligned") {
     const uint32_t pixels[4] = { htole(0xffff0000), htole(0xff00ff00), htole(0xff0000ff), htole(0xffffffff) };