diff --git a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gles/cogl-driver-gles.c b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gles/cogl-driver-gles.c
index 111adb60e..82b762c8f 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gles/cogl-driver-gles.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/driver/gl/gles/cogl-driver-gles.c
@@ -374,6 +374,17 @@ _cogl_driver_update_features (CoglContext *context,
                                      gl_minor,
                                      gl_extensions);
 
+  if (!_cogl_check_extension ("OES_rgb8_rgba8", gl_extensions) &&
+      !COGL_CHECK_GL_VERSION (gl_major, gl_minor, 3, 0))
+    {
+      g_set_error (error,
+                   COGL_DRIVER_ERROR,
+                   COGL_DRIVER_ERROR_INVALID_VERSION,
+                   "OES_rgb8_rgba8 is required for GLES 2");
+      g_strfreev (gl_extensions);
+      return FALSE;
+    }
+
   if (_cogl_check_extension ("GL_ANGLE_pack_reverse_row_order", gl_extensions))
     COGL_FLAGS_SET (private_features,
                     COGL_PRIVATE_FEATURE_MESA_PACK_INVERT, TRUE);