diff --git a/src/PhpWord/Element/Image.php b/src/PhpWord/Element/Image.php
index f1f6bab5..7eff87bc 100644
--- a/src/PhpWord/Element/Image.php
+++ b/src/PhpWord/Element/Image.php
@@ -334,6 +334,10 @@ class Image extends AbstractElement
         // Read image binary data and convert to hex/base64 string
         if ($this->sourceType == self::SOURCE_GD) {
             $imageResource = call_user_func($this->imageCreateFunc, $actualSource);
+            if ($this->imageType === 'image/png') {
+                // PNG images need to preserve alpha channel information
+                imagesavealpha($imageResource, true);
+            }
             ob_start();
             call_user_func($this->imageFunc, $imageResource);
             $imageBinary = ob_get_contents();
diff --git a/src/PhpWord/Writer/AbstractWriter.php b/src/PhpWord/Writer/AbstractWriter.php
index 884769d7..538d9c03 100644
--- a/src/PhpWord/Writer/AbstractWriter.php
+++ b/src/PhpWord/Writer/AbstractWriter.php
@@ -352,6 +352,10 @@ abstract class AbstractWriter implements WriterInterface
             // Retrive GD image content or get local media
             if (isset($element['isMemImage']) && $element['isMemImage']) {
                 $image = call_user_func($element['createFunction'], $element['source']);
+                if ($element['imageType'] === 'image/png') {
+                    // PNG images need to preserve alpha channel information
+                    imagesavealpha($image, true);
+                }
                 ob_start();
                 call_user_func($element['imageFunction'], $image);
                 $imageContents = ob_get_contents();