diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c2102c153..ca06c9904 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@ AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_CXX
 AC_PROG_RANLIB
 
+AC_PATH_PROGS(CONVERT, [convert], [])
+if test -z "$CONVERT"
+then	AC_MSG_FAILURE([aegisub needs convert (from ImageMagick) to produce xpms from the supplied bitmaps/icons])
+fi
+
 AC_C_FLAG([-pthread])
 AC_CXX_FLAG([-pthread])
 AC_CHECK_LIB([pthread], [pthread_join])
diff --git a/core/bitmaps/Makefile.am b/core/bitmaps/Makefile.am
index 89b33d94d..bdb1c141f 100644
--- a/core/bitmaps/Makefile.am
+++ b/core/bitmaps/Makefile.am
@@ -9,6 +9,6 @@ Makefile.bitmaps: $(srcdir)/genxpm.sh $(srcdir)/../res.rc
 all: all-bitmaps
 
 all-bitmaps: Makefile.bitmaps
-	make -f Makefile.bitmaps all
+	make -f Makefile.bitmaps CONVERT=$(CONVERT) all
 
 
diff --git a/core/bitmaps/genxpm.sh b/core/bitmaps/genxpm.sh
index 52ef6669b..dd0efc63f 100644
--- a/core/bitmaps/genxpm.sh
+++ b/core/bitmaps/genxpm.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ all: bmp2xpm wxicon_xpm.xpm
 srcdir=${SRCDIR}
 
 wxicon_xpm.xpm: \$(srcdir)/icon.ico
-	convert \$(srcdir)/'icon.ico[2]' wxicon_xpm.xpm
+	\$(CONVERT) \$(srcdir)/'icon.ico[2]' wxicon_xpm.xpm
 
 EOF
 
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ for I in *.bmp
 do
 	DNAME="`grep "bitmaps/$I" $RESFILE | cut -d ' ' -f 1`"
 	echo -e "${DNAME}_xpm.xpm: \$(srcdir)/$I
-\tconvert -transparent \\#c0c0c0 \$(srcdir)/$I ${DNAME}_xpm.xpm
+\t\$(CONVERT) -transparent \\#c0c0c0 \$(srcdir)/$I ${DNAME}_xpm.xpm
 "
 	XPMNAMES="${XPMNAMES} ${DNAME}_xpm.xpm"
 done