diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 2bde9ce4..40dd8133 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ var Sharp = function(input, options) {
     sharpenJagged: 2,
     threshold: 0,
     thresholdGrayscale: true,
+    trimTolerance: 0,
     gamma: 0,
     greyscale: false,
     normalize: 0,
@@ -364,13 +365,13 @@ Sharp.prototype.overlayWith = function(overlay, options) {
       setTileOption(options.tile, this.options);
     }
     if(isDefined(options.cutout)) {
-      setCutoutOption(options.cutout, this.options);  
+      setCutoutOption(options.cutout, this.options);
     }
     if(isDefined(options.left) || isDefined(options.top)) {
-      setOffsetOption(options.top, options.left, this.options);  
+      setOffsetOption(options.top, options.left, this.options);
     }
     if (isDefined(options.gravity)) {
-      setGravityOption(options.gravity, this.options);  
+      setGravityOption(options.gravity, this.options);
     }
   }
   return this;
@@ -384,7 +385,7 @@ function setTileOption(tile, options) {
     options.overlayTile = tile;
   } else {
     throw new Error('Invalid Value for tile ' + tile + ' Only Boolean Values allowed for overlay.tile.');
-  } 
+  }
 }
 
 function setCutoutOption(cutout, options) {
@@ -553,14 +554,31 @@ Sharp.prototype.threshold = function(threshold, options) {
   } else {
     throw new Error('Invalid threshold (0 to 255) ' + threshold);
   }
-  
+
   if(typeof options === 'undefined' ||
      options.greyscale === true || options.grayscale === true) {
     this.options.thresholdGrayscale = true;
   } else {
     this.options.thresholdGrayscale = false;
   }
-    
+
+  return this;
+};
+
+/*
+  Automatically remove "boring" image edges.
+    tolerance - if present, is a percentaged tolerance level between 0 and 100 to trim away similar color values
+      Defaulting to 10 when no tolerance is given.
+ */
+Sharp.prototype.trim = function(tolerance) {
+  if (typeof tolerance === 'undefined') {
+    this.options.trimTolerance = 10;
+  } else if (isInteger(tolerance) && inRange(tolerance, 1, 99)) {
+    this.options.trimTolerance = tolerance;
+  } else {
+    throw new Error('Invalid trim tolerance (1 to 99) ' + tolerance);
+  }
+
   return this;
 };
 
diff --git a/src/common.h b/src/common.h
index 6beeb7ee..b8d6afc1 100644
--- a/src/common.h
+++ b/src/common.h
@@ -115,6 +115,10 @@ namespace sharp {
   std::tuple<int, int> CalculateCrop(int const inWidth, int const inHeight,
     int const outWidth, int const outHeight, int const x, int const y);
 
+  /*
+    Return the image alpha maximum. Useful for combining alpha bands. scRGB
+    images are 0 - 1 for image data, but the alpha is 0 - 255.
+  */
   int MaximumImageAlpha(VipsInterpretation interpretation);
 
 
diff --git a/src/operations.cc b/src/operations.cc
index e85f5730..58adba1b 100644
--- a/src/operations.cc
+++ b/src/operations.cc
@@ -399,4 +399,56 @@ namespace sharp {
     return image.bandbool(boolean);
   }
 
+  VImage Trim(VImage image, int const tolerance) {
+    using sharp::MaximumImageAlpha;
+    // An equivalent of ImageMagick's -trim in C++ ... automatically remove
+    // "boring" image edges.
+
+    // We use .project to sum the rows and columns of a 0/255 mask image, the first
+    // non-zero row or column is the object edge. We make the mask image with an
+    // amount-different-from-background image plus a threshold.
+
+    // find the value of the pixel at (0, 0) ... we will search for all pixels
+    // significantly different from this
+    std::vector<double> background = image(0, 0);
+
+    int max = MaximumImageAlpha(image.interpretation());
+
+    // we need to smooth the image, subtract the background from every pixel, take
+    // the absolute value of the difference, then threshold
+    VImage mask = (image.median(3) - background).abs() > (max * tolerance / 100);
+
+    // sum mask rows and columns, then search for the first non-zero sum in each
+    // direction
+    VImage rows;
+    VImage columns = mask.project(&rows);
+
+    VImage profileLeftV;
+    VImage profileLeftH = columns.profile(&profileLeftV);
+
+    VImage profileRightV;
+    VImage profileRightH = columns.fliphor().profile(&profileRightV);
+
+    VImage profileTopV;
+    VImage profileTopH = rows.profile(&profileTopV);
+
+    VImage profileBottomV;
+    VImage profileBottomH = rows.flipver().profile(&profileBottomV);
+
+    int left = static_cast<int>(floor(profileLeftV.min()));
+    int right = columns.width() - static_cast<int>(floor(profileRightV.min()));
+    int top = static_cast<int>(floor(profileTopH.min()));
+    int bottom = rows.height() - static_cast<int>(floor(profileBottomH.min()));
+
+    int width = right - left;
+    int height = bottom - top;
+
+    if(width <= 0 || height <= 0) {
+      throw VError("Unexpected error while trimming. Try to lower the tolerance");
+    }
+
+    // and now crop the original image
+    return image.extract_area(left, top, width, height);
+  }
+
 }  // namespace sharp
diff --git a/src/operations.h b/src/operations.h
index 8d1f9122..41a8d0f9 100644
--- a/src/operations.h
+++ b/src/operations.h
@@ -87,6 +87,11 @@ namespace sharp {
   */
   VImage Bandbool(VImage image, VipsOperationBoolean const boolean);
 
+  /*
+    Trim an image
+  */
+  VImage Trim(VImage image, int const tolerance);
+
 }  // namespace sharp
 
 #endif  // SRC_OPERATIONS_H_
diff --git a/src/pipeline.cc b/src/pipeline.cc
index f643190c..a2721449 100644
--- a/src/pipeline.cc
+++ b/src/pipeline.cc
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ using sharp::EntropyCrop;
 using sharp::TileCache;
 using sharp::Threshold;
 using sharp::Bandbool;
+using sharp::Trim;
 
 using sharp::ImageType;
 using sharp::ImageTypeId;
@@ -207,6 +208,11 @@ class PipelineWorker : public AsyncWorker {
         RemoveExifOrientation(image);
       }
 
+      // Trim
+      if(baton->trimTolerance != 0) {
+        image = Trim(image, baton->trimTolerance);
+      }
+
       // Pre extraction
       if (baton->topOffsetPre != -1) {
         image = image.extract_area(baton->leftOffsetPre, baton->topOffsetPre, baton->widthPre, baton->heightPre);
@@ -1145,6 +1151,10 @@ NAN_METHOD(pipeline) {
   baton->sharpenJagged = attrAs<double>(options, "sharpenJagged");
   baton->threshold = attrAs<int32_t>(options, "threshold");
   baton->thresholdGrayscale = attrAs<bool>(options, "thresholdGrayscale");
+  baton->trimTolerance = attrAs<int32_t>(options, "trimTolerance");
+  if(baton->accessMethod == VIPS_ACCESS_SEQUENTIAL && baton->trimTolerance != 0) {
+    baton->accessMethod = VIPS_ACCESS_RANDOM;
+  }
   baton->gamma = attrAs<double>(options, "gamma");
   baton->greyscale = attrAs<bool>(options, "greyscale");
   baton->normalize = attrAs<bool>(options, "normalize");
diff --git a/src/pipeline.h b/src/pipeline.h
index a1807837..906ee3fb 100644
--- a/src/pipeline.h
+++ b/src/pipeline.h
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ struct PipelineBaton {
   double sharpenJagged;
   int threshold;
   bool thresholdGrayscale;
+  int trimTolerance;
   double gamma;
   bool greyscale;
   bool normalize;
@@ -127,6 +128,7 @@ struct PipelineBaton {
     sharpenJagged(2.0),
     threshold(0),
     thresholdGrayscale(true),
+    trimTolerance(0),
     gamma(0.0),
     greyscale(false),
     normalize(false),
diff --git a/test/fixtures/expected/alpha-layer-1-fill-trim-resize.png b/test/fixtures/expected/alpha-layer-1-fill-trim-resize.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ad1cf1d5
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fixtures/expected/alpha-layer-1-fill-trim-resize.png differ
diff --git a/test/fixtures/expected/trim-16bit-rgba.png b/test/fixtures/expected/trim-16bit-rgba.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..555f79d3
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fixtures/expected/trim-16bit-rgba.png differ
diff --git a/test/unit/trim.js b/test/unit/trim.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d73ccec0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/trim.js
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+'use strict';
+
+var assert = require('assert');
+
+var sharp = require('../../index');
+var fixtures = require('../fixtures');
+
+describe('Trim borders', function() {
+
+  it('Threshold default', function(done) {
+    var expected = fixtures.expected('alpha-layer-1-fill-trim-resize.png');
+    sharp(fixtures.inputPngOverlayLayer1)
+      .resize(450, 322)
+      .trim()
+      .toBuffer(function(err, data, info) {
+        if (err) throw err;
+        assert.strictEqual('png', info.format);
+        assert.strictEqual(450, info.width);
+        assert.strictEqual(322, info.height);
+        fixtures.assertSimilar(expected, data, done);
+      });
+  });
+
+  it('16-bit PNG with alpha channel', function(done) {
+    sharp(fixtures.inputPngWithTransparency16bit)
+      .resize(32, 32)
+      .trim()
+      .toBuffer(function(err, data, info) {
+        if (err) throw err;
+        assert.strictEqual(true, data.length > 0);
+        assert.strictEqual('png', info.format);
+        assert.strictEqual(32, info.width);
+        assert.strictEqual(32, info.height);
+        assert.strictEqual(4, info.channels);
+        fixtures.assertSimilar(fixtures.expected('trim-16bit-rgba.png'), data, done);
+      });
+  });
+
+});