diff --git a/textual_image/_pixeldata.py b/textual_image/_pixeldata.py
index fa0bb97..4101c18 100644
--- a/textual_image/_pixeldata.py
+++ b/textual_image/_pixeldata.py
@@ -53,7 +53,9 @@ class PixelData:
     """Provides access to pixel data from a path or `PIL.Image.Image` instance."""
 
     def __init__(
-        self, image: StrOrBytesPath | IO[bytes] | PILImage.Image, mode: Literal["grayscale", "rgb"] | None = None
+        self,
+        image: StrOrBytesPath | IO[bytes] | PILImage.Image,
+        mode: Literal["grayscale", "rgb", "rgba"] | None = None,
     ) -> None:
         """Initializes a PixelData.
 
@@ -68,6 +70,8 @@ def __init__(
             self._image = self._image.convert("L")
         elif mode == "rgb":
             self._image = self._image.convert("RGB")
+        elif mode == "rgba":
+            self._image = self._image.convert("RGBA")
 
     @property
     def pil_image(self) -> PILImage.Image:
diff --git a/textual_image/renderable/halfcell.py b/textual_image/renderable/halfcell.py
index e60e1e5..cc4fd1d 100644
--- a/textual_image/renderable/halfcell.py
+++ b/textual_image/renderable/halfcell.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 from textual_image._utils import StrOrBytesPath, grouped
 
 
-def _map_pixel(pixel_value: Tuple[int, int, int]) -> Color:
+def _map_pixel(pixel_value: Tuple[int, int, int, int]) -> Color:
     """Maps a pixel value to a colored halfcells.
 
     Args:
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def _map_pixel(pixel_value: Tuple[int, int, int]) -> Color:
     Returns:
         Color resembling the pixel value.
     """
-    return Color.from_triplet(ColorTriplet(*pixel_value))
+    return Color.from_triplet(ColorTriplet(*(pixel_value[:3])))
 
 
 class Image:
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ def __init__(
             height: height specification to render the image.
                 See `textual_image.geometry.ImageSize` for details about possible values.
         """
-        self._image_data = PixelData(image, mode="rgb")
+        self._image_data = PixelData(image, mode="rgba")
         self._render_size = ImageSize(self._image_data.width, self._image_data.height, width, height)
 
     def cleanup(self) -> None:
@@ -73,7 +73,16 @@ def __rich_console__(self, console: Console, options: ConsoleOptions) -> RenderR
 
         for upper_row, lower_row in grouped(self._image_data.scaled(width, height), 2):
             for upper_pixel, lower_pixel in zip(upper_row, lower_row, strict=True):
-                yield Segment("▀", style=Style(color=_map_pixel(upper_pixel), bgcolor=_map_pixel(lower_pixel)))  # type: ignore
+                if upper_pixel[3] == lower_pixel[3] == 0:
+                    yield Segment(" ")
+                elif upper_pixel[3] == 0:
+                    yield Segment("▄", style=Style(color=_map_pixel(lower_pixel[:3])))
+                elif lower_pixel[3] == 0:
+                    yield Segment("▀", style=Style(color=_map_pixel(upper_pixel[:3])))
+                else:
+                    yield Segment(
+                        "▀", style=Style(color=_map_pixel(upper_pixel[:3]), bgcolor=_map_pixel(lower_pixel[:3]))
+                    )
             yield Segment("\n")
 
     def __rich_measure__(self, console: Console, options: ConsoleOptions) -> Measurement: