diff --git a/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift b/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift
index 863e9f88d..f2f9ed277 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift
@@ -246,8 +246,12 @@ class TerminalController: NSWindowController, NSWindowDelegate,
         // when cascading.
         window.center()
 
-        // Set the background color of the window
-        window.backgroundColor = NSColor(ghostty.config.backgroundColor)
+        // Set the background color of the window. We only do this if the lum is
+        // over 0.1 to prevent: https://github.com/mitchellh/ghostty/issues/1549
+        let bgColor = NSColor(ghostty.config.backgroundColor)
+        if (bgColor.luminance > 0.1) {
+            window.backgroundColor = NSColor(ghostty.config.backgroundColor)
+        }
 
         // This makes sure our titlebar renders correctly when there is a transparent background
         window.titlebarOpacity = ghostty.config.backgroundOpacity
diff --git a/macos/Sources/Helpers/OSColor+Extension.swift b/macos/Sources/Helpers/OSColor+Extension.swift
index f8bfcd134..7cb3e28ef 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Helpers/OSColor+Extension.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Helpers/OSColor+Extension.swift
@@ -2,19 +2,29 @@ import Foundation
 
 extension OSColor {
     var isLightColor: Bool {
+        return self.luminance > 0.5
+    }
+    
+    var luminance: Double {
         var r: CGFloat = 0
         var g: CGFloat = 0
         var b: CGFloat = 0
         var a: CGFloat = 0
-
-        self.getRed(&r, green: &g, blue: &b, alpha: &a)
-        let luminance = (0.299 * r) + (0.587 * g) + (0.114 * b)
-        return luminance > 0.5
+        
+        // getRed:green:blue:alpha requires sRGB space
+        guard let rgb = self.usingColorSpace(.sRGB) else { return 0 }
+        rgb.getRed(&r, green: &g, blue: &b, alpha: &a)
+        return (0.299 * r) + (0.587 * g) + (0.114 * b)
     }
 
     func darken(by amount: CGFloat) -> OSColor {
         var h: CGFloat = 0, s: CGFloat = 0, b: CGFloat = 0, a: CGFloat = 0
         self.getHue(&h, saturation: &s, brightness: &b, alpha: &a)
-        return OSColor(hue: h, saturation: s, brightness: min(b * (1 - amount), 1), alpha: a)
+        return OSColor(
+            hue: h,
+            saturation: s,
+            brightness: min(b * (1 - amount), 1),
+            alpha: a
+        )
     }
 }