diff --git a/tools/mtmd/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/mtmd/CMakeLists.txt
index 4baa15b9..0af5ae4c 100644
--- a/tools/mtmd/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/mtmd/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # mtmd
 
 find_package(Threads REQUIRED)
+find_package(ImageMagick REQUIRED COMPONENTS Magick++)
 
 add_library(mtmd
             mtmd.cpp
@@ -14,10 +15,11 @@ add_library(mtmd
             )
 
 target_link_libraries     (mtmd PUBLIC ggml llama)
-target_link_libraries     (mtmd PRIVATE Threads::Threads)
+target_link_libraries     (mtmd PRIVATE Threads::Threads ImageMagick::Magick++)
 target_include_directories(mtmd PUBLIC  .)
 target_include_directories(mtmd PRIVATE ../..)
 target_include_directories(mtmd PRIVATE ../../vendor)
+target_include_directories(mtmd PRIVATE ${ImageMagick_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 target_compile_features   (mtmd PRIVATE cxx_std_17)
 
 if (BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
@@ -38,7 +40,7 @@ set_target_properties(mtmd
 install(TARGETS mtmd LIBRARY PUBLIC_HEADER)
 
 if (NOT MSVC)
-    # for stb_image.h and miniaudio.h
+    # for miniaudio.h
     target_compile_options(mtmd PRIVATE -Wno-cast-qual)
 endif()
 
diff --git a/tools/mtmd/mtmd-helper.cpp b/tools/mtmd/mtmd-helper.cpp
index 686f42f3..cf303504 100644
--- a/tools/mtmd/mtmd-helper.cpp
+++ b/tools/mtmd/mtmd-helper.cpp
@@ -29,8 +29,7 @@
 #define MA_API static
 #include "miniaudio/miniaudio.h"
 
-#define STB_IMAGE_IMPLEMENTATION
-#include "stb/stb_image.h"
+#include <Magick++.h>
 
 #define LOG_INF(...) fprintf(stdout, __VA_ARGS__)
 #define LOG_ERR(...) fprintf(stderr, __VA_ARGS__)
@@ -423,15 +422,40 @@ mtmd_bitmap * mtmd_helper_bitmap_init_from_buf(mtmd_context * ctx, const unsigne
 
     // otherwise, we assume it's an image
     mtmd_bitmap * result = nullptr;
-    {
-        int nx, ny, nc;
-        auto * data = stbi_load_from_memory(buf, len, &nx, &ny, &nc, 3);
-        if (!data) {
-            LOG_ERR("%s: failed to decode image bytes\n", __func__);
-            return nullptr;
-        }
+    try {
+        // Create a Blob object from the in-memory data.
+        Magick::Blob blob(buf, len);
+        Magick::Image image;
+
+        // Read the image from the blob.
+        image.read(blob);
+
+        // Prepare a new blob to hold the raw RGB pixel data.
+        Magick::Blob rgb_blob;
+        // Write the image data to the new blob in the desired format (RGB, 8-bit per channel).
+        // This ensures the pixel data is in a simple, contiguous array format.
+        image.write(&rgb_blob, "RGB");
+
+        // Get image dimensions.
+        int nx = image.columns();
+        int ny = image.rows();
+
+        // Create a copy of the pixel data, as the blob's lifetime is tied to this scope.
+        size_t data_size = rgb_blob.length();
+        unsigned char * data = new unsigned char[data_size];
+        memcpy(data, rgb_blob.data(), data_size);
+
+        // Initialize the bitmap with the copied data.
         result = mtmd_bitmap_init(nx, ny, data);
-        stbi_image_free(data);
+    } catch (const Magick::Exception &e) {
+        LOG_ERR("%s: failed to decode image bytes with ImageMagick: %s\n", __func__, e.what());
+        return nullptr;
     }
     return result;
 }