diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index ad156c13..1c6ae058 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
 - tiff reader can do 1, 2, 4, 8 bit palette images
 - tiff palette read can do mono images
 - im_bufjpeg2vips() has a "header_only" parameter
+- added vips_image_get_data()
 
 30/11/10 started 7.24.0
 - bump for new stable
diff --git a/libvips/format/im_jpeg2vips.c b/libvips/format/im_jpeg2vips.c
index 3033f0e4..449fd19e 100644
--- a/libvips/format/im_jpeg2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/format/im_jpeg2vips.c
@@ -1053,12 +1053,6 @@ im_bufjpeg2vips( void *buf, size_t len, IMAGE *out, gboolean header_only )
 	return( result );
 }
 
-int
-jpeg2vips_header( const char *name, IMAGE *out )
-{
-	return( jpeg2vips( name, out, TRUE ) );
-}
-
 static int
 isjpeg( const char *filename )
 {
diff --git a/libvips/include/vips/header.h b/libvips/include/vips/header.h
index a4900897..3ab9f554 100644
--- a/libvips/include/vips/header.h
+++ b/libvips/include/vips/header.h
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ int vips_image_get_xoffset( VipsImage *image );
 int vips_image_get_yoffset( VipsImage *image );
 const char *vips_image_get_filename( VipsImage *image );
 const char *vips_image_get_mode( VipsImage *image );
+void *vips_image_get_data( VipsImage *image );;
 
 void vips_image_init_fields( VipsImage *image, 
 	int xsize, int ysize, int bands, 
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/header.c b/libvips/iofuncs/header.c
index 7cdd353a..e9aacdf0 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/header.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/header.c
@@ -414,6 +414,27 @@ vips_image_get_mode( VipsImage *image )
 	return( image->mode );
 }
 
+/**
+ * vips_image_get_data:
+ * @image: image to get data for
+ *
+ * Return a pointer to the image's pixel data, if possible. This can involve
+ * allocating large amounts of memory and performing a long computation. Image
+ * pixels are laid out in band-packed rows.
+ *
+ * See also: vips_image_wio_input().
+ *
+ * Returns: a pointer to pixel data, if possible.
+ */
+void *
+vips_image_get_data( VipsImage *image )
+{
+	if( vips_image_wio_input( image ) )
+		return( NULL );
+
+	return( image->data ); 
+}
+
 /**
  * vips_image_init_fields:
  * @image: image to init