diff --git a/gsk/gskalloc.c b/gsk/gskalloc.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cf1c03163c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gsk/gskalloc.c
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+#include "config.h"
+
+#if defined(HAVE_POSIX_MEMALIGN) && !defined(_XOPEN_SOURCE)
+# define _XOPEN_SOURCE 600
+#endif
+
+#include "gskallocprivate.h"
+
+#if defined(HAVE_MEMALIGN) || defined(HAVE__ALIGNED_MALLOC)
+/* Required for _aligned_malloc() and _aligned_free() on Windows */
+#include <malloc.h>
+#endif
+
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+#ifdef HAVE__ALIGNED_MALLOC
+/* _aligned_malloc() takes parameters of aligned_alloc() in reverse order */
+# define aligned_alloc(alignment, size) _aligned_malloc (size, alignment)
+
+/* _aligned_malloc()'ed memory must be freed by _align_free() on Windows */
+# define aligned_free(x) _aligned_free (x)
+#else
+# define aligned_free(x) free (x)
+#endif
+
+/**
+ * gsk_aligned_alloc:
+ * @size: the size of the memory to allocate
+ * @number: the multiples of @size to allocate
+ * @alignment: the alignment to be enforced, as a power of 2
+ *
+ * Allocates @number times @size memory, with the given @alignment.
+ *
+ * If the total requested memory overflows %G_MAXSIZE, this function
+ * will abort.
+ *
+ * If allocation fails, this function will abort, in line with
+ * the behaviour of GLib.
+ *
+ * Returns: (transfer full): the allocated memory
+ */
+gpointer
+gsk_aligned_alloc (gsize size,
+                   gsize number,
+                   gsize alignment)
+{
+  gpointer res = NULL;
+  gsize real_size;
+
+  if (G_UNLIKELY (number > G_MAXSIZE / size))
+    {
+#ifndef G_DISABLE_ASSERT
+      g_error ("%s: overflow in the allocation of (%"G_GSIZE_FORMAT" x %"G_GSIZE_FORMAT") bytes",
+               G_STRLOC, size, number);
+#endif
+      return NULL;
+    }
+
+  real_size = size * number;
+
+#ifndef G_DISABLE_ASSERT
+  errno = 0;
+#endif
+
+#if defined(HAVE_POSIX_MEMALIGN) && !defined (MALLOC_IS_ALIGNED16)
+  errno = posix_memalign (&res, alignment, real_size);
+#elif (defined(HAVE_ALIGNED_ALLOC) || defined(HAVE__ALIGNED_MALLOC)) && !defined (MALLOC_IS_ALIGNED16)
+  /* real_size must be a multiple of alignment */
+  if (real_size % alignment != 0)
+    {
+      gsize offset = real_size % alignment;
+      real_size += (alignment - offset);
+    }
+    
+  res = aligned_alloc (alignment, real_size);
+#elif defined(HAVE_MEMALIGN) && !defined (MALLOC_IS_ALIGNED16)
+  res = memalign (alignment, real_size);
+#else
+  res = malloc (real_size);
+#endif
+
+#ifndef G_DISABLE_ASSERT
+  if (errno != 0 || res == NULL)
+    {
+      g_error ("%s: error in the allocation of (%"G_GSIZE_FORMAT" x %"G_GSIZE_FORMAT") bytes: %s",
+               G_STRLOC, size, number, strerror (errno));
+    }
+#endif
+
+  return res;
+}
+
+/**
+ * gsk_aligned_alloc0:
+ * @size: the size of the memory to allocate
+ * @number: the multiples of @size to allocate
+ * @alignment: the alignment to be enforced, as a power of 2
+ *
+ * Allocates @number times @size memory, with the given @alignment,
+ * like gsk_aligned_alloc(), but it also clears the memory.
+ *
+ * Returns: (transfer full): the allocated, cleared memory
+ */
+gpointer
+gsk_aligned_alloc0 (gsize size,
+                    gsize number,
+                    gsize alignment)
+{
+  gpointer mem;
+
+  mem = gsk_aligned_alloc (size, number, alignment);
+
+  if (mem)
+    memset (mem, 0, size * number);
+
+  return mem;
+}
+
+/**
+ * gsk_aligned_free:
+ * @mem: the memory to deallocate
+ *
+ * Frees the memory allocated by gsk_aligned_alloc().
+ */
+void
+gsk_aligned_free (gpointer mem)
+{
+  aligned_free (mem);
+}
diff --git a/gsk/gskallocprivate.h b/gsk/gskallocprivate.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fb757ef40c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gsk/gskallocprivate.h
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#ifndef __GSK_ALLOC_PRIVATE_H__
+#define __GSK_ALLOC_PRIVATE_H__
+
+#include <glib.h>
+
+G_BEGIN_DECLS
+
+gpointer gsk_aligned_alloc  (gsize    size,
+                             gsize    number,
+                             gsize    alignment);
+gpointer gsk_aligned_alloc0 (gsize    size,
+                             gsize    number,
+                             gsize    alignment);
+void     gsk_aligned_free   (gpointer mem);
+
+G_END_DECLS
+
+#endif /* __GSK_ALLOC_PRIVATE_H__ */
diff --git a/gsk/meson.build b/gsk/meson.build
index 2b9115bb2e..937c91d596 100644
--- a/gsk/meson.build
+++ b/gsk/meson.build
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ gsk_public_sources = files([
 ])
 
 gsk_private_sources = files([
+  'gskalloc.c',
   'gskcairoblur.c',
   'gskcairorenderer.c',
   'gskdebug.c',