diff --git a/test/Makefile.am b/test/Makefile.am
index 26f28b588..11d414b6a 100644
--- a/test/Makefile.am
+++ b/test/Makefile.am
@@ -392,6 +392,7 @@ SUPPORT_PROGS =
 INCLUDES =					\
 	-D_GNU_SOURCE				\
 	-I$(srcdir)				\
+	-I$(srcdir)/pdiff			\
 	-I$(top_srcdir)/boilerplate		\
 	-I$(top_srcdir)/pixman/src		\
 	-I$(top_srcdir)/src			\
@@ -407,6 +408,7 @@ libcairotest_la_SOURCES =\
 	cairo-test.h
 
 LDADD = libcairotest.la \
+	$(top_builddir)/test/pdiff/libpdiff.la \
         $(top_builddir)/boilerplate/libcairoboilerplate.la \
 	$(top_builddir)/src/libcairo.la
 
diff --git a/test/buffer-diff.c b/test/buffer-diff.c
index 99501bce8..e4324ff2a 100644
--- a/test/buffer-diff.c
+++ b/test/buffer-diff.c
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 
 #include "cairo-test.h"
 
+#include "pdiff.h"
 #include "buffer-diff.h"
 #include "xmalloc.h"
 
@@ -122,6 +123,18 @@ compare_surfaces (cairo_surface_t	*surface_a,
 		  cairo_surface_t	*surface_diff,
 		  buffer_diff_result_t	*result)
 {
+    /* These default values were taken straight from the
+     * perceptualdiff program. We'll probably want to tune these as
+     * necessary. */
+    double gamma = 2.2;
+    double luminance = 100.0;
+    double field_of_view = 45.0;
+    int discernible_pixels_changed;
+
+    /* First, we run cairo's old buffer_diff algorithm which looks for
+     * pixel-perfect images, (we do this first since the test suite
+     * runs about 3x slower if we run pdiff_compare first).
+     */
     buffer_diff_core (cairo_image_surface_get_data (surface_a),
 		      cairo_image_surface_get_data (surface_b),
 		      cairo_image_surface_get_data (surface_diff),
@@ -130,6 +143,23 @@ compare_surfaces (cairo_surface_t	*surface_a,
 		      cairo_image_surface_get_stride (surface_a),
 		      0xffffffff,
 		      result);
+    if (result->pixels_changed == 0)
+	return;
+
+    cairo_test_log ("%d pixels differ (with maximum difference of %d) from reference image\n",
+		    result->pixels_changed, result->max_diff);
+
+    /* Then, if there are any different pixels, we give the pdiff code
+     * a crack at the images. If it decides that there are no visually
+     * discernible differences in any pixels, then we accept this
+     * result as good enough. */
+    discernible_pixels_changed = pdiff_compare (surface_a, surface_b,
+						gamma, luminance, field_of_view);
+    if (discernible_pixels_changed == 0) {
+	result->pixels_changed = 0;
+	cairo_test_log ("But perceptual diff finds no visually discernible difference.\n"
+			"Accepting result.\n");
+    }
 }
 
 void
diff --git a/test/cairo-test.c b/test/cairo-test.c
index ea8f2acbc..498eb8e33 100755
--- a/test/cairo-test.c
+++ b/test/cairo-test.c
@@ -313,6 +313,8 @@ cairo_test_for_target (cairo_test_t			 *test,
 	    goto UNWIND_CAIRO;
 	}
 
+	cairo_test_log ("Comparing result against reference image: %s\n", ref_name);
+
 	if (target->content == CAIRO_TEST_CONTENT_COLOR_ALPHA_FLATTENED) {
 	    diff_status= image_diff_flattened (png_name, ref_name, diff_name,
 					       dev_offset, dev_offset, 0, 0, &result);
@@ -326,13 +328,9 @@ cairo_test_for_target (cairo_test_t			 *test,
 	    ret = CAIRO_TEST_FAILURE;
 	    goto UNWIND_CAIRO;
 	}
-	if (result.pixels_changed) {
-	    cairo_test_log ("%d pixels differ (with maximum difference of %d) from reference image %s\n",
-			    result.pixels_changed, result.max_diff, ref_name);
-	    if (result.max_diff > target->error_tolerance) {
-		ret = CAIRO_TEST_FAILURE;
-		goto UNWIND_CAIRO;
-	    }
+	if (result.pixels_changed && result.max_diff > target->error_tolerance) {
+	    ret = CAIRO_TEST_FAILURE;
+	    goto UNWIND_CAIRO;
 	}
     }