diff --git a/protocol/wayland.xml b/protocol/wayland.xml
index 23a70e76..e1d11cbb 100644
--- a/protocol/wayland.xml
+++ b/protocol/wayland.xml
@@ -93,32 +93,27 @@
     <request name="create_surface">
       <arg name="id" type="new_id" interface="wl_surface"/>
     </request>
-
-    <enum name="visual">
-      <entry name="argb32" value="0"/>
-      <entry name="premultiplied_argb32" value="1"/>
-      <entry name="xrgb32" value="2"/>
-    </enum>
-
-    <event name="token_visual">
-      <arg name="name" type="uint"/>
-      <arg name="token" type="uint"/>
-    </event>
   </interface>
 
   <!-- Shared memory support -->
   <interface name="wl_shm" version="1">
     <enum name="error">
-      <entry name="invalid_visual" value="0"/>
+      <entry name="invalid_format" value="0"/>
       <entry name="invalid_stride" value="1"/>
       <entry name="invalid_fd" value="2"/>
     </enum>
 
+    <enum name="format">
+      <entry name="argb32" value="0"/>
+      <entry name="premultiplied_argb32" value="1"/>
+      <entry name="xrgb32" value="2"/>
+    </enum>
+
     <!-- Transfer a shm buffer to the server.  The allocated buffer
          would include at least stride * height bytes starting at the
          beginning of fd.  The file descriptor is transferred over the
          socket using AF_UNIX magical features. width, height, stride
-         and visual describe the respective properties of the pixel
+         and format describe the respective properties of the pixel
          data contained in the buffer. -->
     <request name="create_buffer">
       <arg name="id" type="new_id" interface="wl_buffer"/>
@@ -126,8 +121,12 @@
       <arg name="width" type="int"/>
       <arg name="height" type="int"/>
       <arg name="stride" type="uint"/>
-      <arg name="visual" type="object" interface="wl_visual"/>
+      <arg name="format" type="uint"/>
     </request>
+
+    <event name="format">
+      <arg name="format" type="uint"/>
+    </event>
   </interface>
 
 
@@ -547,10 +546,4 @@
     </event>
   </interface>
 
-
-  <!-- A visual is the pixel format.  The different visuals are
-       currently only identified by the order they are advertised by
-       the 'global' events.  We need something better.  -->
-  <interface name="wl_visual" version="1"/>
-
 </protocol>
diff --git a/src/wayland-egl.h b/src/wayland-egl.h
index 85fe73d9..56811a7d 100644
--- a/src/wayland-egl.h
+++ b/src/wayland-egl.h
@@ -37,8 +37,7 @@ struct wl_egl_pixmap;
 
 struct wl_egl_window *
 wl_egl_window_create(struct wl_surface *surface,
-		     int width, int height,
-		     struct wl_visual *visual);
+		     int width, int height);
 
 void
 wl_egl_window_destroy(struct wl_egl_window *egl_window);
@@ -53,8 +52,7 @@ wl_egl_window_get_attached_size(struct wl_egl_window *egl_window,
 				int *width, int *height);
 
 struct wl_egl_pixmap *
-wl_egl_pixmap_create(int width, int height,
-		     struct wl_visual *visual, uint32_t flags);
+wl_egl_pixmap_create(int width, int height, uint32_t flags);
 void
 wl_egl_pixmap_destroy(struct wl_egl_pixmap *egl_pixmap);
 
diff --git a/src/wayland-server.c b/src/wayland-server.c
index 7c8c3869..fbf413b0 100644
--- a/src/wayland-server.c
+++ b/src/wayland-server.c
@@ -858,28 +858,6 @@ compositor_bind(struct wl_client *client,
 					compositor->interface, id, compositor);
 	if (resource == NULL)
 		return;
-
-	wl_resource_post_event(resource,
-			       WL_COMPOSITOR_TOKEN_VISUAL,
-			       compositor->argb_visual.name,
-			       WL_COMPOSITOR_VISUAL_ARGB32);
-
-	wl_resource_post_event(resource,
-			       WL_COMPOSITOR_TOKEN_VISUAL,
-			       compositor->premultiplied_argb_visual.name,
-			       WL_COMPOSITOR_VISUAL_PREMULTIPLIED_ARGB32);
-
-	wl_resource_post_event(resource,
-			       WL_COMPOSITOR_TOKEN_VISUAL,
-			       compositor->rgb_visual.name,
-			       WL_COMPOSITOR_VISUAL_XRGB32);
-}
-
-static void
-bind_visual(struct wl_client *client,
-	    void *data, uint32_t version, uint32_t id)
-{
-	wl_client_add_object(client, &wl_visual_interface, NULL, id, data);
 }
 
 WL_EXPORT int
@@ -895,24 +873,5 @@ wl_compositor_init(struct wl_compositor *compositor,
 	if (!global)
 		return -1;
 
-	global = wl_display_add_global(display, &wl_visual_interface,
-				       &compositor->argb_visual, bind_visual);
-	if (!global)
-		return -1;
-	compositor->argb_visual.name = global->name;
-	
-	global = wl_display_add_global(display, &wl_visual_interface,
-				       &compositor->premultiplied_argb_visual,
-				       bind_visual);
-	if (!global)
-		return -1;
-	compositor->premultiplied_argb_visual.name = global->name;
-
-	global = wl_display_add_global(display, &wl_visual_interface,
-				       &compositor->rgb_visual, bind_visual);
-	if (!global)
-		return -1;
-	compositor->rgb_visual.name = global->name;
-
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/src/wayland-server.h b/src/wayland-server.h
index 71bb5bf0..95b44c1c 100644
--- a/src/wayland-server.h
+++ b/src/wayland-server.h
@@ -117,11 +117,6 @@ struct wl_resource {
 	void *data;
 };
 
-struct wl_visual {
-	struct wl_object object;
-	uint32_t name;
-};
-
 struct wl_shm_callbacks {
 	void (*buffer_created)(struct wl_buffer *buffer);
 
@@ -134,14 +129,10 @@ struct wl_shm_callbacks {
 
 struct wl_compositor {
 	const struct wl_compositor_interface *interface;
-	struct wl_visual argb_visual;
-	struct wl_visual premultiplied_argb_visual;
-	struct wl_visual rgb_visual;
 };
 
 struct wl_buffer {
 	struct wl_resource resource;
-	struct wl_visual *visual;
 	int32_t width, height;
 	uint32_t busy_count;
 	void *user_data;
@@ -285,10 +276,12 @@ wl_shm_buffer_get_data(struct wl_buffer *buffer);
 int32_t
 wl_shm_buffer_get_stride(struct wl_buffer *buffer);
 
+uint32_t
+wl_shm_buffer_get_format(struct wl_buffer *buffer);
+
 struct wl_buffer *
 wl_shm_buffer_create(struct wl_shm *shm, int width, int height,
-		     int stride, struct wl_visual *visual,
-		     void *data);
+		     int stride, uint32_t visual, void *data);
 
 int
 wl_buffer_is_shm(struct wl_buffer *buffer);
diff --git a/src/wayland-shm.c b/src/wayland-shm.c
index c73c7867..b2a873d7 100644
--- a/src/wayland-shm.c
+++ b/src/wayland-shm.c
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ struct wl_shm_buffer {
 	struct wl_buffer buffer;
 	struct wl_shm *shm;
 	int32_t stride;
+	uint32_t format;
 	void *data;
 };
 
@@ -81,8 +82,7 @@ const static struct wl_buffer_interface shm_buffer_interface = {
 static struct wl_shm_buffer *
 wl_shm_buffer_init(struct wl_shm *shm, struct wl_client *client, uint32_t id,
 		   int32_t width, int32_t height,
-		   int32_t stride, struct wl_visual *visual,
-		   void *data)
+		   int32_t stride, uint32_t format, void *data)
 {
 	struct wl_shm_buffer *buffer;
 
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ wl_shm_buffer_init(struct wl_shm *shm, struct wl_client *client, uint32_t id,
 
 	buffer->buffer.width = width;
 	buffer->buffer.height = height;
-	buffer->buffer.visual = visual;
+	buffer->format = format;
 	buffer->stride = stride;
 	buffer->data = data;
 
@@ -115,17 +115,22 @@ wl_shm_buffer_init(struct wl_shm *shm, struct wl_client *client, uint32_t id,
 static void
 shm_create_buffer(struct wl_client *client, struct wl_resource *resource,
 		  uint32_t id, int fd, int32_t width, int32_t height,
-		  uint32_t stride, struct wl_resource *visual_resource)
+		  uint32_t stride, uint32_t format)
 {
 	struct wl_shm *shm = resource->data;
 	struct wl_shm_buffer *buffer;
-	struct wl_visual *visual = visual_resource->data;
 	void *data;
 
-	if (!visual || visual_resource->object.interface != &wl_visual_interface) {
+
+	switch (format) {
+	case WL_SHM_FORMAT_ARGB32:
+	case WL_SHM_FORMAT_PREMULTIPLIED_ARGB32:
+	case WL_SHM_FORMAT_XRGB32:
+		break;
+	default:
 		wl_client_post_error(client, &resource->object,
-				     WL_SHM_ERROR_INVALID_VISUAL,
-				     "invalid visual");
+				     WL_SHM_ERROR_INVALID_FORMAT,
+				     "invalid format");
 		close(fd);
 		return;
 	}
@@ -151,8 +156,7 @@ shm_create_buffer(struct wl_client *client, struct wl_resource *resource,
 	}
 
 	buffer = wl_shm_buffer_init(shm, client, id,
-				    width, height, stride, visual,
-				    data);
+				    width, height, stride, format, data);
 	if (buffer == NULL) {
 		munmap(data, stride * height);
 		wl_client_post_no_memory(client);
@@ -170,8 +174,15 @@ static void
 bind_shm(struct wl_client *client,
 	 void *data, uint32_t version, uint32_t id)
 {
-	wl_client_add_object(client,
-			     &wl_shm_interface, &shm_interface, id, data);
+	struct wl_resource *resource;
+
+	resource = wl_client_add_object(client, &wl_shm_interface,
+					&shm_interface, id, data);
+
+	wl_resource_post_event(resource, WL_SHM_FORMAT, WL_SHM_FORMAT_ARGB32);
+	wl_resource_post_event(resource, WL_SHM_FORMAT,
+			       WL_SHM_FORMAT_PREMULTIPLIED_ARGB32);
+	wl_resource_post_event(resource, WL_SHM_FORMAT, WL_SHM_FORMAT_XRGB32);
 }
 
 WL_EXPORT struct wl_shm *
@@ -232,3 +243,11 @@ wl_shm_buffer_get_data(struct wl_buffer *buffer_base)
 
 	return buffer->data;
 }
+
+WL_EXPORT uint32_t
+wl_shm_buffer_get_format(struct wl_buffer *buffer_base)
+{
+	struct wl_shm_buffer *buffer = (struct wl_shm_buffer *) buffer_base;
+
+	return buffer->format;
+}