diff --git a/src/asfont.cpp b/src/asfont.cpp
index c74015d..401bd12 100644
--- a/src/asfont.cpp
+++ b/src/asfont.cpp
@@ -11,35 +11,10 @@
 ASFont::ASFont(const std::string &fontImagePath)
 	: characters(SFONTPLUS_CHARSET)
 {
-	// Load PNG file into an SDL surface.
-	SDL_Surface *buf = loadPNG(fontImagePath);
-	if (!buf) {
-		surface = NULL;
+	surface = loadPNG(fontImagePath);
+	if (!surface) {
 		return;
 	}
-
-	// Make sure we have a surface that can be blitted using alpha blending.
-	if (buf->format->BytesPerPixel == 4) {
-		surface = buf;
-		SDL_SetAlpha(surface, SDL_SRCALPHA, 255);
-	} else {
-		SDL_PixelFormat format32;
-		memset(&format32, 0, sizeof(format32));
-		format32.BitsPerPixel = 32;
-		format32.BytesPerPixel = 4;
-		format32.Rmask =
-			SDL_BYTEORDER == SDL_BIG_ENDIAN ? 0x00FF0000 : 0x000000FF;
-		format32.Gmask = 0x0000FF00;
-		format32.Bmask =
-			SDL_BYTEORDER == SDL_BIG_ENDIAN ? 0x000000FF : 0x00FF0000;
-		format32.Amask = 0xFF000000;
-		format32.Rshift = SDL_BYTEORDER == SDL_BIG_ENDIAN ? 16 : 0;
-		format32.Gshift = 8;
-		format32.Bshift = SDL_BYTEORDER == SDL_BIG_ENDIAN ? 0 : 16;
-		format32.Ashift = 24;
-		surface = SDL_ConvertSurface(buf, &format32, SDL_SRCALPHA);
-		SDL_FreeSurface(buf);
-	}
 	assert(surface->format->BytesPerPixel == 4);
 
 	SDL_LockSurface(surface);
diff --git a/src/imageio.cpp b/src/imageio.cpp
index aeebbcb..b9b8921 100644
--- a/src/imageio.cpp
+++ b/src/imageio.cpp
@@ -2,7 +2,35 @@
 
 #include <SDL_image.h>
 
-SDL_Surface *loadPNG(const std::string &path)
-{
-	return IMG_Load(path.c_str());
+SDL_Surface *loadPNG(const std::string &path) {
+	// Load PNG file into an SDL surface.
+	SDL_Surface *surface = IMG_Load(path.c_str());
+	if (!surface) {
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	// Make sure we have a surface that can be blitted using alpha blending.
+	if (surface->format->BytesPerPixel == 4) {
+		SDL_SetAlpha(surface, SDL_SRCALPHA, 255);
+		return surface;
+	} else {
+		SDL_PixelFormat format32;
+		memset(&format32, 0, sizeof(format32));
+		format32.BitsPerPixel = 32;
+		format32.BytesPerPixel = 4;
+		format32.Rmask =
+			SDL_BYTEORDER == SDL_BIG_ENDIAN ? 0x00FF0000 : 0x000000FF;
+		format32.Gmask = 0x0000FF00;
+		format32.Bmask =
+			SDL_BYTEORDER == SDL_BIG_ENDIAN ? 0x000000FF : 0x00FF0000;
+		format32.Amask = 0xFF000000;
+		format32.Rshift = SDL_BYTEORDER == SDL_BIG_ENDIAN ? 16 : 0;
+		format32.Gshift = 8;
+		format32.Bshift = SDL_BYTEORDER == SDL_BIG_ENDIAN ? 0 : 16;
+		format32.Ashift = 24;
+		SDL_Surface *surface32 =
+			SDL_ConvertSurface(surface, &format32, SDL_SRCALPHA);
+		SDL_FreeSurface(surface);
+		return surface32;
+	}
 }
diff --git a/src/imageio.h b/src/imageio.h
index 3e4e48f..54d4640 100644
--- a/src/imageio.h
+++ b/src/imageio.h
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 
 struct SDL_Surface;
 
+/** Loads an image from a PNG file into a newly allocated 32bpp RGBA surface.
+  */
 SDL_Surface *loadPNG(const std::string &path);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/surface.cpp b/src/surface.cpp
index 264ea3c..20808b8 100644
--- a/src/surface.cpp
+++ b/src/surface.cpp
@@ -90,11 +90,8 @@ void Surface::load(const string &img, const string &skin) {
 		skinpath = img;
 	}
 
-	SDL_Surface *buf = loadPNG(skinpath);
-	if (buf!=NULL) {
-		raw = SDL_DisplayFormatAlpha(buf);
-		SDL_FreeSurface(buf);
-	} else {
+	raw = loadPNG(skinpath);
+	if (!raw) {
 		ERROR("Couldn't load surface '%s'\n", img.c_str());
 	}
 }