diff --git a/PIL/ImageQt.py b/PIL/ImageQt.py
index 2131f8264..591d85ff8 100644
--- a/PIL/ImageQt.py
+++ b/PIL/ImageQt.py
@@ -53,7 +53,12 @@ def rgb(r, g, b, a=255):
 def fromqimage(im):
     buffer = QBuffer()
     buffer.open(QIODevice.ReadWrite)
-    im.save(buffer, 'ppm')
+    # preserve alha channel with png
+    # otherwise ppm is more friendly with Image.open
+    if im.hasAlphaChannel():
+        im.save(buffer, 'png')
+    else:
+        im.save(buffer, 'ppm')
 
     b = BytesIO()
     try:
diff --git a/Tests/test_image_fromqimage.py b/Tests/test_image_fromqimage.py
index 24ec19616..57a95f104 100644
--- a/Tests/test_image_fromqimage.py
+++ b/Tests/test_image_fromqimage.py
@@ -13,9 +13,15 @@ class TestFromQImage(PillowQtTestCase, PillowTestCase):
     ]
     
     def roundtrip(self, expected):
-        result = ImageQt.fromqimage(expected.toqimage())
-        # Qt saves all images as rgb
-        self.assert_image_equal(result, expected.convert('RGB'))
+        # PIL -> Qt
+        intermediate = expected.toqimage()
+        # Qt -> PIL
+        result = ImageQt.fromqimage(intermediate)
+
+        if intermediate.hasAlphaChannel():
+            self.assert_image_equal(result, expected.convert('RGBA'))
+        else:
+            self.assert_image_equal(result, expected.convert('RGB'))
 
     def test_sanity_1(self):
         for im in self.files_to_test: