diff --git a/picard/util/imageinfo.py b/picard/util/imageinfo.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7d33c19b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/picard/util/imageinfo.py
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+#
+# Picard, the next-generation MusicBrainz tagger
+# Copyright (C) 2014 Laurent Monin
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+# as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+# of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+
+import StringIO
+import struct
+
+
+class ImageInfoError(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
+class ImageInfoUnrecognized(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
+def image_info(data):
+    """Parse data for jpg, gif, png metadata
+    If successfully recognized, it returns a tuple with:
+        - width
+        - height
+        - mimetype
+        - data length
+    If there is not enough data (< 16 bytes), it will raise `ImageInfoError`.
+    If format isn't recognized, it will raise `ImageInfoUnrecognized`
+    """
+
+    datalen = len(data)
+    if datalen < 16:
+        raise ImageInfoError('Not enough data')
+
+    w = -1
+    h = -1
+    mime = ''
+
+    # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_Interchange_Format
+    if data[:6] in ('GIF87a', 'GIF89a'):
+        w, h = struct.unpack('<HH', data[6:10])
+        mime = 'image/gif'
+
+    # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Network_Graphics
+    # http://www.w3.org/TR/PNG/#11IHDR
+    elif data[:8] == '\x89PNG\x0D\x0A\x1A\x0A' and data[12:16] == 'IHDR':
+        w, h = struct.unpack('>LL', data[16:24])
+        mime = 'image/png'
+
+    # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG
+    elif data[:2] == '\xFF\xD8':  # Start Of Image (SOI) marker
+        jpeg = StringIO.StringIO(data)
+        # skip SOI
+        jpeg.read(2)
+        b = jpeg.read(1)
+        try:
+            while (b and ord(b) != 0xDA):  # Start Of Scan (SOS)
+                while (ord(b) != 0xFF): b = jpeg.read(1)
+                while (ord(b) == 0xFF): b = jpeg.read(1)
+                if ord(b) in (0xC0, 0xC1, 0xC2, 0xC5, 0xC6, 0xC7,
+                              0xC9, 0xCA, 0xCB, 0xCD, 0xCE, 0xCF):
+                    jpeg.read(2)  # parameter length (2 bytes)
+                    jpeg.read(1)  # data precision (1 byte)
+                    h, w = struct.unpack('>HH', jpeg.read(4))
+                    mime = 'image/jpeg'
+                    break
+                else:
+                    # read 2 bytes as integer
+                    length = int(struct.unpack('>H', jpeg.read(2))[0])
+                    # skip data
+                    jpeg.read(length - 2)
+                b = jpeg.read(1)
+        except struct.error:
+            pass
+        except ValueError:
+            pass
+
+    else:
+        raise ImageInfoUnrecognized('Unrecognized image data')
+    assert(w != -1)
+    assert(h != -1)
+    assert(mime != '')
+    return (int(w), int(h), mime, datalen)
diff --git a/test/data/mb.gif b/test/data/mb.gif
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..81fb13853
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/data/mb.gif differ
diff --git a/test/data/mb.jpg b/test/data/mb.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e4f121b92
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/data/mb.jpg differ
diff --git a/test/data/mb.png b/test/data/mb.png
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..342848af9
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/data/mb.png differ
diff --git a/test/test_utils.py b/test/test_utils.py
index 20ab92985..3e37564b7 100644
--- a/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/test/test_utils.py
@@ -169,3 +169,36 @@ class AlbumArtistFromPathTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(aafp(file_3, 'album', 'artist'), ('album', 'artist'))
         self.assertEqual(aafp(file_4, 'album', 'artist'), ('album', 'artist'))
 
+
+from picard.util.imageinfo import image_info, ImageInfoError, ImageInfoUnrecognized
+
+
+class ImageInfoTest(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_gif(self):
+        file = os.path.join('test', 'data', 'mb.gif')
+
+        with open(file, 'rb') as f:
+            self.assertEqual(image_info(f.read()), (140, 96, 'image/gif', 5806))
+
+    def test_png(self):
+        file = os.path.join('test', 'data', 'mb.png')
+
+        with open(file, 'rb') as f:
+            self.assertEqual(image_info(f.read()), (140, 96, 'image/png', 15692))
+
+    def test_jpeg(self):
+        file = os.path.join('test', 'data', 'mb.jpg',)
+
+        with open(file, 'rb') as f:
+            self.assertEqual(image_info(f.read()), (140, 96, 'image/jpeg', 8550))
+
+    def test_not_enough_data(self):
+        self.assertRaises(ImageInfoError, image_info, "x")
+
+    def test_invalid_data(self):
+        self.assertRaises(ImageInfoUnrecognized, image_info, "x" * 20)
+
+    def test_invalid_png_data(self):
+        data = '\x89PNG\x0D\x0A\x1A\x0A' + "x" * 20
+        self.assertRaises(ImageInfoUnrecognized, image_info, data)