diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index c6f345323..8e7cbf680 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ Features added
 * #1779: Add EPUB 3 builder
 * #1751: Add :confval:`todo_link_only` to avoid file path and line indication on
   :rst:dir:`todolist`. Thanks to Francesco Montesano.
+* #2199: Use ``imagesize`` package to obtain size of images
 
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6d1ae2de4..da85e66a7 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ requires = [
     'snowballstemmer>=1.1',
     'babel>=1.3,!=2.0',
     'alabaster>=0.7,<0.8',
+    'imagesize',
 ]
 extras_require = {
     # Environment Marker works for wheel 0.24 or later
diff --git a/sphinx/util/images.py b/sphinx/util/images.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d130ade32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sphinx/util/images.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+"""
+    sphinx.util.images
+    ~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+    Image utility functions for Sphinx.
+
+    :copyright: Copyright 2007-2016 by the Sphinx team, see AUTHORS.
+    :license: BSD, see LICENSE for details.
+"""
+
+import imagesize
+
+try:
+    from PIL import Image        # check for the Python Imaging Library
+except ImportError:
+    try:
+        import Image
+    except ImportError:
+        Image = None
+
+
+def get_image_size(filename):
+    try:
+        size = imagesize.get(filename)
+        if size[0] == -1:
+            size = None
+
+        if Image:  # fallback to PIL
+            im = Image.open(filename)
+            size = im.size
+            try:
+                im.fp.close()
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+
+        return size
+    except:
+        return None
diff --git a/sphinx/writers/html.py b/sphinx/writers/html.py
index bd65fc52e..2f4a770ad 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/html.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/html.py
@@ -20,16 +20,9 @@ from docutils.writers.html4css1 import Writer, HTMLTranslator as BaseTranslator
 
 from sphinx import addnodes
 from sphinx.locale import admonitionlabels, _
+from sphinx.util.images import get_image_size
 from sphinx.util.smartypants import sphinx_smarty_pants
 
-try:
-    from PIL import Image        # check for the Python Imaging Library
-except ImportError:
-    try:
-        import Image
-    except ImportError:
-        Image = None
-
 # A good overview of the purpose behind these classes can be found here:
 # http://www.arnebrodowski.de/blog/write-your-own-restructuredtext-writer.html
 
@@ -481,21 +474,16 @@ class HTMLTranslator(BaseTranslator):
             # Try to figure out image height and width.  Docutils does that too,
             # but it tries the final file name, which does not necessarily exist
             # yet at the time the HTML file is written.
-            if Image and not ('width' in node and 'height' in node):
-                try:
-                    im = Image.open(os.path.join(self.builder.srcdir, olduri))
-                except (IOError,  # Source image can't be found or opened
-                        UnicodeError):  # PIL doesn't like Unicode paths.
-                    pass
+            if not ('width' in node and 'height' in node):
+                size = get_image_size(os.path.join(self.builder.srcdir, olduri))
+                if size is None:
+                    self.builder.env.warn_node('Could not obtain image size. '
+                                               ':scale: option is ignored.', node)
                 else:
                     if 'width' not in node:
-                        node['width'] = str(im.size[0])
+                        node['width'] = str(size[0])
                     if 'height' not in node:
-                        node['height'] = str(im.size[1])
-                    try:
-                        im.fp.close()
-                    except Exception:
-                        pass
+                        node['height'] = str(size[1])
         BaseTranslator.visit_image(self, node)
 
     def visit_toctree(self, node):
diff --git a/test-reqs.txt b/test-reqs.txt
index 6ab42c342..0edb725dc 100644
--- a/test-reqs.txt
+++ b/test-reqs.txt
@@ -11,3 +11,4 @@ sqlalchemy>=0.9
 whoosh>=2.0
 alabaster
 sphinx_rtd_theme
+imagesize