diff --git a/cogl/cogl-internal.h b/cogl/cogl-internal.h
index 90198595d..4f53cc3c5 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-internal.h
+++ b/cogl/cogl-internal.h
@@ -100,7 +100,8 @@ typedef enum
   COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_PBOS = 1L<<5,
   COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_VBOS = 1L<<6,
   COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_EXT_PACKED_DEPTH_STENCIL = 1L<<7,
-  COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_OES_PACKED_DEPTH_STENCIL = 1L<<8
+  COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_OES_PACKED_DEPTH_STENCIL = 1L<<8,
+  COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_TEXTURE_FORMAT_BGRA8888 = 1L<<9
 } CoglPrivateFeatureFlags;
 
 /* Sometimes when evaluating pipelines, either during comparisons or
diff --git a/cogl/cogl-texture.c b/cogl/cogl-texture.c
index 27cbb64d5..ab07f911c 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-texture.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl-texture.c
@@ -166,6 +166,15 @@ _cogl_texture_determine_internal_format (CoglPixelFormat src_format,
         return src_format;
     }
   else
+    /* XXX: It might be nice to make this match the component ordering
+       of the source format when the formats are otherwise the same
+       because on GL there is no way to specify the ordering of the
+       internal format. However when using GLES with the
+       GL_EXT_texture_format_BGRA8888 the order of the internal format
+       becomes important because it must exactly match the format of
+       the uploaded data. That means that if someone creates a texture
+       with some RGBA data and then later tries to upload BGRA data we
+       do actually have to swizzle the components */
     return dst_format;
 }
 
diff --git a/cogl/driver/gles/cogl-gles.c b/cogl/driver/gles/cogl-gles.c
index d4c596879..102a19fc8 100644
--- a/cogl/driver/gles/cogl-gles.c
+++ b/cogl/driver/gles/cogl-gles.c
@@ -69,6 +69,22 @@ _cogl_driver_pixel_format_to_gl (CoglContext *context,
       gltype = GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE;
       break;
 
+    case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_BGRA_8888:
+    case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_BGRA_8888_PRE:
+      /* There is an extension to support this format */
+      if ((context->private_feature_flags &
+           COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_TEXTURE_FORMAT_BGRA8888))
+        {
+          /* For some reason the extension says you have to specify
+             BGRA for the internal format too */
+          glintformat = GL_BGRA_EXT;
+          glformat = GL_BGRA_EXT;
+          gltype = GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE;
+          required_format = format;
+          break;
+        }
+      /* flow through */
+
       /* Just one 24-bit ordering supported */
     case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_RGB_888:
     case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_BGR_888:
@@ -81,8 +97,6 @@ _cogl_driver_pixel_format_to_gl (CoglContext *context,
       /* Just one 32-bit ordering supported */
     case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_RGBA_8888:
     case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_RGBA_8888_PRE:
-    case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_BGRA_8888:
-    case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_BGRA_8888_PRE:
     case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_ARGB_8888:
     case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_ARGB_8888_PRE:
     case COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_ABGR_8888:
@@ -276,6 +290,9 @@ _cogl_driver_update_features (CoglContext *context,
   if (_cogl_check_extension ("GL_OES_packed_depth_stencil", gl_extensions))
     private_flags |= COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_OES_PACKED_DEPTH_STENCIL;
 
+  if (_cogl_check_extension ("GL_EXT_texture_format_BGRA8888", gl_extensions))
+    private_flags |= COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_TEXTURE_FORMAT_BGRA8888;
+
   /* Cache features */
   context->private_feature_flags |= private_flags;
   context->feature_flags |= flags;