diff --git a/cogl.h.in b/cogl.h.in
index c1cc10f29..adc329288 100644
--- a/cogl.h.in
+++ b/cogl.h.in
@@ -691,6 +691,39 @@ void            cogl_push_draw_buffer         (void);
  */
 void            cogl_pop_draw_buffer          (void);
 
+/**
+ * CoglReadPixelsFlags:
+ * @COGL_READ_PIXELS_COLOR_BUFFER: Read from the color buffer
+ */
+typedef enum _CoglReadPixelsFlags
+{
+  COGL_READ_PIXELS_COLOR_BUFFER = 1L<<0
+} CoglReadPixelsFlags;
+
+/**
+ * cogl_read_pixels:
+ * @x: The window x position to start reading from
+ * @y: The window y position to start reading from
+ * @width: The width of the rectangle you want to read
+ * @height: The height of the rectangle you want to read
+ * @source: Identifies which auxillary buffer you want to read
+ *          (only COGL_READ_PIXELS_COLOR_BUFFER supported currently)
+ * @format: The pixel format you want the result in
+ *          (only COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_RGBA_8888 supported currently)
+ * @pixels: The location to write the pixel data.
+ *
+ * This reads a rectangle of pixels from the current draw buffer where
+ * position (0, 0) is the top left. The pixel at (x, y) is the first
+ * read, and the data is returned with a rowstride of (width * 4)
+ */
+void            cogl_read_pixels (int x,
+                                  int y,
+                                  int width,
+                                  int height,
+                                  CoglReadPixelsFlags source,
+                                  CoglPixelFormat format,
+                                  guint8 *pixels);
+
 
 /*
  * Internal API available only to Clutter.
diff --git a/common/cogl.c b/common/cogl.c
index 5857db2d3..d06d8ddd9 100644
--- a/common/cogl.c
+++ b/common/cogl.c
@@ -572,6 +572,8 @@ void
 cogl_get_viewport (float v[4])
 {
   /* FIXME: cogl_get_viewport should return a gint vec */
+  /* FIXME: cogl_get_viewport should only return a width + height
+   * (I don't think we need to support offset viewports) */
 #if defined (HAVE_COGL_GLES2) || defined (HAVE_COGL_GLES)
   GLint viewport[4];
   int i;
@@ -676,3 +678,57 @@ cogl_flush_gl_state (int flags)
 }
 #endif
 
+void
+cogl_read_pixels (int x,
+                  int y,
+                  int width,
+                  int height,
+                  CoglReadPixelsFlags source,
+                  CoglPixelFormat format,
+                  guint8 *pixels)
+{
+  GLint   viewport[4];
+  GLint   viewport_height;
+  int     rowstride = width * 4;
+  guint8  temprow[rowstride];
+
+  g_return_if_fail (format == COGL_PIXEL_FORMAT_RGBA_8888);
+  g_return_if_fail (source == COGL_READ_PIXELS_COLOR_BUFFER);
+
+  glGetIntegerv (GL_VIEWPORT, viewport);
+  viewport_height = viewport[3];
+
+  /* The y co-ordinate should be given in OpenGL's coordinate system
+     so 0 is the bottom row */
+  y = viewport_height - y - height;
+
+  /* Setup the pixel store parameters that may have been changed by
+     Cogl */
+  glPixelStorei (GL_PACK_ALIGNMENT, 4);
+#ifdef HAVE_COGL_GL
+  glPixelStorei (GL_PACK_ROW_LENGTH, 0);
+  glPixelStorei (GL_PACK_SKIP_PIXELS, 0);
+  glPixelStorei (GL_PACK_SKIP_ROWS, 0);
+#endif /* HAVE_COGL_GL */
+
+  glReadPixels (x, y, width, height, GL_RGBA, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, pixels);
+
+  /* TODO: consider using the GL_MESA_pack_invert extension in the future
+   * to avoid this flip... */
+
+  /* vertically flip the buffer in-place */
+  for (y = 0; y < height / 2; y++)
+    {
+      if (y != height - y - 1) /* skip center row */
+        {
+          memcpy (temprow,
+                  pixels + y * rowstride, rowstride);
+          memcpy (pixels + y * rowstride,
+                  pixels + (height - y - 1) * rowstride, rowstride);
+          memcpy (pixels + (height - y - 1) * rowstride,
+                  temprow,
+                  rowstride);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
diff --git a/doc/reference/cogl/cogl-sections.txt b/doc/reference/cogl/cogl-sections.txt
index 623aa3e92..c28ab52f6 100644
--- a/doc/reference/cogl/cogl-sections.txt
+++ b/doc/reference/cogl/cogl-sections.txt
@@ -68,6 +68,10 @@ cogl_set_source_color4ub
 cogl_set_source_color4f
 cogl_set_source_texture
 
+<SUBSECTION>
+CoglReadPixelsFlags
+cogl_read_pixels
+
 <SUBSECTION Standard>
 COGL_TYPE_ATTRIBUTE_TYPE
 COGL_TYPE_BUFFER_BIT