diff --git a/src/gui/text/qfontengine.cpp b/src/gui/text/qfontengine.cpp
index ee74c7f8fb8..f5aec978099 100644
--- a/src/gui/text/qfontengine.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/text/qfontengine.cpp
@@ -868,7 +868,7 @@ QFontEngine::Glyph *QFontEngine::glyphData(glyph_t,
     return nullptr;
 }
 
-QImage QFontEngine::alphaMapForGlyph(glyph_t glyph)
+QImage QFontEngine::renderedPathForGlyph(glyph_t glyph, const QColor &color)
 {
     glyph_metrics_t gm = boundingBox(glyph);
     int glyph_x = qFloor(gm.x.toReal());
@@ -889,10 +889,16 @@ QImage QFontEngine::alphaMapForGlyph(glyph_t glyph)
     p.setRenderHint(QPainter::Antialiasing);
     addGlyphsToPath(&glyph, &pt, 1, &path, { });
     p.setPen(Qt::NoPen);
-    p.setBrush(Qt::black);
+    p.setBrush(color);
     p.drawPath(path);
     p.end();
 
+    return im;
+}
+
+QImage QFontEngine::alphaMapForGlyph(glyph_t glyph)
+{
+    QImage im = renderedPathForGlyph(glyph, Qt::black);
     QImage alphaMap(im.width(), im.height(), QImage::Format_Alpha8);
 
     for (int y=0; y<im.height(); ++y) {
diff --git a/src/gui/text/qfontengine_p.h b/src/gui/text/qfontengine_p.h
index 807f02fdc7d..9afe92c247d 100644
--- a/src/gui/text/qfontengine_p.h
+++ b/src/gui/text/qfontengine_p.h
@@ -186,6 +186,7 @@ public:
     virtual QImage alphaMapForGlyph(glyph_t, const QFixedPoint &subPixelPosition, const QTransform &t);
     virtual QImage alphaRGBMapForGlyph(glyph_t, const QFixedPoint &subPixelPosition, const QTransform &t);
     virtual QImage bitmapForGlyph(glyph_t, const QFixedPoint &subPixelPosition, const QTransform &t, const QColor &color = QColor());
+    QImage renderedPathForGlyph(glyph_t glyph, const QColor &color);
     virtual Glyph *glyphData(glyph_t glyph, const QFixedPoint &subPixelPosition, GlyphFormat neededFormat, const QTransform &t);
     virtual bool hasInternalCaching() const { return false; }
 
diff --git a/src/gui/text/windows/qwindowsfontenginedirectwrite.cpp b/src/gui/text/windows/qwindowsfontenginedirectwrite.cpp
index 47b8a7ee3c2..4f73633667a 100644
--- a/src/gui/text/windows/qwindowsfontenginedirectwrite.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/text/windows/qwindowsfontenginedirectwrite.cpp
@@ -660,19 +660,23 @@ QImage QWindowsFontEngineDirectWrite::alphaMapForGlyph(glyph_t glyph,
 {
     QImage im = imageForGlyph(glyph, subPixelPosition, glyphMargin(Format_A8), t);
 
-    QImage alphaMap(im.width(), im.height(), QImage::Format_Alpha8);
+    if (!im.isNull()) {
+        QImage alphaMap(im.width(), im.height(), QImage::Format_Alpha8);
 
-    for (int y=0; y<im.height(); ++y) {
-        const uint *src = reinterpret_cast<const uint *>(im.constScanLine(y));
-        uchar *dst = alphaMap.scanLine(y);
-        for (int x=0; x<im.width(); ++x) {
-            *dst = 255 - (m_fontEngineData->pow_gamma[qGray(0xffffffff - *src)] * 255. / 2047.);
-            ++dst;
-            ++src;
+        for (int y=0; y<im.height(); ++y) {
+            const uint *src = reinterpret_cast<const uint *>(im.constScanLine(y));
+            uchar *dst = alphaMap.scanLine(y);
+            for (int x=0; x<im.width(); ++x) {
+                *dst = 255 - (m_fontEngineData->pow_gamma[qGray(0xffffffff - *src)] * 255. / 2047.);
+                ++dst;
+                ++src;
+            }
         }
-    }
 
-    return alphaMap;
+        return alphaMap;
+    } else {
+        return QFontEngine::alphaMapForGlyph(glyph, t);
+    }
 }
 
 QImage QWindowsFontEngineDirectWrite::alphaMapForGlyph(glyph_t glyph,
@@ -794,8 +798,10 @@ QImage QWindowsFontEngineDirectWrite::imageForGlyph(glyph_t t,
                                                 : DWRITE_TEXTURE_CLEARTYPE_3x1,
                                              &rect);
 
-        if (rect.top == rect.bottom || rect.left == rect.right)
+        if (rect.top == rect.bottom || rect.left == rect.right) {
+            qCDebug(lcQpaFonts) << __FUNCTION__ << "Cannot get alpha texture bounds. Falling back to slower rendering path.";
             return QImage();
+        }
 
         QRect boundingRect = QRect(QPoint(rect.left - margin,
                                           rect.top - margin),
@@ -1009,6 +1015,12 @@ QImage QWindowsFontEngineDirectWrite::alphaRGBMapForGlyph(glyph_t t,
                                 glyphMargin(QFontEngine::Format_A32),
                                 xform);
 
+    if (mask.isNull()) {
+        mask = QFontEngine::renderedPathForGlyph(t, Qt::white);
+        if (!xform.isIdentity())
+            mask = mask.transformed(xform);
+    }
+
     return mask.depth() == 32
            ? mask
            : mask.convertToFormat(QImage::Format_RGB32);
@@ -1157,7 +1169,7 @@ glyph_metrics_t QWindowsFontEngineDirectWrite::alphaMapBoundingBox(glyph_t glyph
         int margin = glyphMargin(format);
 
         if (rect.left == rect.right || rect.top == rect.bottom)
-            return glyph_metrics_t();
+            return bbox;
 
         return glyph_metrics_t(rect.left,
                                rect.top,