diff --git a/Classes/PHPWord/Media.php b/Classes/PHPWord/Media.php
index 03328184..1d422775 100755
--- a/Classes/PHPWord/Media.php
+++ b/Classes/PHPWord/Media.php
@@ -94,25 +94,13 @@ class PHPWord_Media
                 if (!$isMemImage) {
                     $isMemImage = (filter_var($src, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL) !== false);
                 }
-                $extension = '';
                 if ($isMemImage) {
                     $extension = $memoryImage->getImageExtension();
                     $media['isMemImage'] = true;
                     $media['createfunction'] = $memoryImage->getImageCreateFunction();
                     $media['imagefunction'] = $memoryImage->getImageFunction();
                 } else {
-                    $imageType = exif_imagetype($src);
-                    if ($imageType === IMAGETYPE_JPEG) {
-                        $extension = 'jpg';
-                    } elseif ($imageType === IMAGETYPE_GIF) {
-                        $extension = 'gif';
-                    } elseif ($imageType === IMAGETYPE_PNG) {
-                        $extension = 'png';
-                    } elseif ($imageType === IMAGETYPE_BMP) {
-                        $extension = 'bmp';
-                    } elseif ($imageType === IMAGETYPE_TIFF_II || $imageType === IMAGETYPE_TIFF_MM) {
-                        $extension = 'tif';
-                    }
+                    $extension = PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($src);
                 }
 
                 $folder = 'media';
diff --git a/Classes/PHPWord/Section/Image.php b/Classes/PHPWord/Section/Image.php
index fcaa1cc9..30a10449 100755
--- a/Classes/PHPWord/Section/Image.php
+++ b/Classes/PHPWord/Section/Image.php
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ class PHPWord_Section_Image
      */
     private $_isWatermark;
 
-
     /**
      * Create a new Image
      *
@@ -72,13 +71,11 @@ class PHPWord_Section_Image
      */
     public function __construct($src, $style = null, $isWatermark = false)
     {
-        $supportedImageTypes = array(IMAGETYPE_JPEG, IMAGETYPE_GIF, IMAGETYPE_PNG, IMAGETYPE_BMP, IMAGETYPE_TIFF_II, IMAGETYPE_TIFF_MM);
-
         if (!file_exists($src)) {
             throw new InvalidImageException;
         }
 
-        if (!in_array(exif_imagetype($src), $supportedImageTypes)) {
+        if (!PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($src)) {
             throw new UnsupportedImageTypeException;
         }
 
diff --git a/Classes/PHPWord/Shared/File.php b/Classes/PHPWord/Shared/File.php
index 26a206ba..4ed0e725 100755
--- a/Classes/PHPWord/Shared/File.php
+++ b/Classes/PHPWord/Shared/File.php
@@ -30,15 +30,20 @@
  */
 class PHPWord_Shared_File
 {
+    const IMAGETYPE_JPEG = 'jpg';
+    const IMAGETYPE_GIF = 'gif';
+    const IMAGETYPE_PNG = 'png';
+    const IMAGETYPE_BMP = 'bmp';
+    const IMAGETYPE_TIFF = 'tif';
+
     /**
      * Verify if a file exists
      *
-     * @param    string $pFilename Filename
+     * @param string $pFilename Filename
      * @return bool
      */
     public static function file_exists($pFilename)
     {
-        // Regular file_exists
         return file_exists($pFilename);
     }
 
@@ -50,18 +55,13 @@ class PHPWord_Shared_File
      */
     public static function realpath($pFilename)
     {
-        // Returnvalue
-        $returnValue = '';
-
-        // Try using realpath()
         $returnValue = realpath($pFilename);
 
-        // Found something?
-        if ($returnValue == '' || is_null($returnValue)) {
+        if (!$returnValue) {
             $pathArray = explode('/', $pFilename);
-            while (in_array('..', $pathArray) && $pathArray[0] != '..') {
+            while (in_array('..', $pathArray) && $pathArray[0] !== '..') {
                 for ($i = 0; $i < count($pathArray); ++$i) {
-                    if ($pathArray[$i] == '..' && $i > 0) {
+                    if ($pathArray[$i] === '..' && $i > 0) {
                         unset($pathArray[$i]);
                         unset($pathArray[$i - 1]);
                         break;
@@ -71,7 +71,58 @@ class PHPWord_Shared_File
             $returnValue = implode('/', $pathArray);
         }
 
-        // Return
         return $returnValue;
     }
-}
+
+    /**
+     * PHP Words version of exif_imagetype to return the Image Type from a file
+     *
+     * @param string $filename
+     * @return int|bool
+     */
+    private static function fallbackImagetype($filename)
+    {
+        if ((list($width, $height, $type, $attr) = getimagesize($filename)) !== false) {
+            if ($type === 2) {
+                return self::IMAGETYPE_JPEG;
+            } elseif ($type === 1) {
+                return self::IMAGETYPE_GIF;
+            } elseif ($type === 3) {
+                return self::IMAGETYPE_PNG;
+            } elseif ($type === 6) {
+                return self::IMAGETYPE_BMP;
+            } elseif ($type === 7 || $type === 8) {
+                return self::IMAGETYPE_TIFF;
+            }
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Return the Image Type from a file
+     *
+     * @param string $filename
+     * @param bool $userFallbackFunction
+     * @return int|bool
+     */
+    public static function imagetype($filename, $userFallbackFunction = false)
+    {
+        if ($userFallbackFunction || !function_exists('exif_imagetype')) {
+            return self::fallbackImagetype($filename);
+        }
+
+        $imagetype = exif_imagetype($filename);
+        if ($imagetype === IMAGETYPE_JPEG) {
+            return self::IMAGETYPE_JPEG;
+        } elseif ($imagetype === IMAGETYPE_GIF) {
+            return self::IMAGETYPE_GIF;
+        } elseif ($imagetype === IMAGETYPE_PNG) {
+            return self::IMAGETYPE_PNG;
+        } elseif ($imagetype === IMAGETYPE_BMP) {
+            return self::IMAGETYPE_BMP;
+        } elseif ($imagetype === IMAGETYPE_TIFF_II || $imagetype === IMAGETYPE_TIFF_MM) {
+            return self::IMAGETYPE_TIFF;
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Classes/PHPWord/Writer/Word2007.php b/Classes/PHPWord/Writer/Word2007.php
index 0f9aac14..989fa93f 100755
--- a/Classes/PHPWord/Writer/Word2007.php
+++ b/Classes/PHPWord/Writer/Word2007.php
@@ -212,21 +212,10 @@ class PHPWord_Writer_Word2007 implements PHPWord_Writer_IWriter
         if (stripos(strrev($src), strrev('.php')) === 0) {
             $extension = 'php';
         } else {
-            $imageType = exif_imagetype($src);
-            if ($imageType === IMAGETYPE_JPEG) {
-                $extension = 'jpg';
-            } elseif ($imageType === IMAGETYPE_GIF) {
-                $extension = 'gif';
-            } elseif ($imageType === IMAGETYPE_PNG) {
-                $extension = 'png';
-            } elseif ($imageType === IMAGETYPE_BMP) {
-                $extension = 'bmp';
-            } elseif ($imageType === IMAGETYPE_TIFF_II || $imageType === IMAGETYPE_TIFF_MM) {
-                $extension = 'tif';
-            }
+            $extension = PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($src);
         }
 
-        if (isset($extension)) {
+        if (isset($extension) && $extension) {
             $imageData = getimagesize($src);
             $imageType = image_type_to_mime_type($imageData[2]);
             $imageExtension = str_replace('.', '', image_type_to_extension($imageData[2]));
@@ -236,10 +225,8 @@ class PHPWord_Writer_Word2007 implements PHPWord_Writer_IWriter
             if (!in_array($imageType, $this->_imageTypes)) {
                 $this->_imageTypes[$imageExtension] = $imageType;
             }
-        } else {
-            if (!in_array($extension, $this->_objectTypes)) {
-                $this->_objectTypes[] = $extension;
-            }
+        } elseif (!in_array($extension, $this->_objectTypes)) {
+            $this->_objectTypes[] = $extension;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/Tests/PHPWord/Shared/FileTest.php b/Tests/PHPWord/Shared/FileTest.php
index a5ac348f..fe825b8f 100644
--- a/Tests/PHPWord/Shared/FileTest.php
+++ b/Tests/PHPWord/Shared/FileTest.php
@@ -54,4 +54,39 @@ class FileTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
         $expected = $dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file;
         $this->assertEquals($expected, PHPWord_Shared_File::realpath($file));
     }
-}
+
+    /**
+     * @covers PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype
+     * @covers PHPWord_Shared_File::fallbackImagetype
+     */
+    public function testImagetype()
+    {
+        $filename = PHPWORD_TESTS_DIR_ROOT . "/_files/images/mars_noext_jpg";
+        $this->assertEquals(PHPWord_Shared_File::IMAGETYPE_JPEG, PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename, true));
+        $this->assertEquals(PHPWord_Shared_File::IMAGETYPE_JPEG, PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename));
+
+        $filename = PHPWORD_TESTS_DIR_ROOT . "/_files/images/mars.jpg";
+        $this->assertEquals(PHPWord_Shared_File::IMAGETYPE_JPEG, PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename, true));
+        $this->assertEquals(PHPWord_Shared_File::IMAGETYPE_JPEG, PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename));
+
+        $filename = PHPWORD_TESTS_DIR_ROOT . "/_files/images/mario.gif";
+        $this->assertEquals(PHPWord_Shared_File::IMAGETYPE_GIF, PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename, true));
+        $this->assertEquals(PHPWord_Shared_File::IMAGETYPE_GIF, PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename));
+
+        $filename = PHPWORD_TESTS_DIR_ROOT . "/_files/images/firefox.png";
+        $this->assertEquals(PHPWord_Shared_File::IMAGETYPE_PNG, PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename, true));
+        $this->assertEquals(PHPWord_Shared_File::IMAGETYPE_PNG, PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename));
+
+        $filename = PHPWORD_TESTS_DIR_ROOT . "/_files/images/duke_nukem.bmp";
+        $this->assertEquals(PHPWord_Shared_File::IMAGETYPE_BMP, PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename, true));
+        $this->assertEquals(PHPWord_Shared_File::IMAGETYPE_BMP, PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename));
+
+        $filename = PHPWORD_TESTS_DIR_ROOT . "/_files/images/angela_merkel.tif";
+        $this->assertEquals(PHPWord_Shared_File::IMAGETYPE_TIFF, PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename, true));
+        $this->assertEquals(PHPWord_Shared_File::IMAGETYPE_TIFF, PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename));
+
+        $filename = PHPWORD_TESTS_DIR_ROOT . "/_files/images/alexz-johnson.pcx";
+        $this->assertFalse(PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename, true));
+        $this->assertFalse(PHPWord_Shared_File::imagetype($filename));
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Tests/PHPWord/Writer/Word2007/DocumentTest.php b/Tests/PHPWord/Writer/Word2007/DocumentTest.php
index fe854fee..5bc11b5a 100644
--- a/Tests/PHPWord/Writer/Word2007/DocumentTest.php
+++ b/Tests/PHPWord/Writer/Word2007/DocumentTest.php
@@ -84,4 +84,4 @@ class DocumentTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
         $element = $doc->getElement('/w:document/w:body/w:p[11]/w:r/w:object/o:OLEObject');
         $this->assertEquals('Embed', $element->getAttribute('Type'));
     }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Tests/_inc/TestHelperDOCX.php b/Tests/_inc/TestHelperDOCX.php
index dec1f077..ba5dcf07 100644
--- a/Tests/_inc/TestHelperDOCX.php
+++ b/Tests/_inc/TestHelperDOCX.php
@@ -5,11 +5,14 @@ use PHPWord;
 
 class TestHelperDOCX
 {
-    /** @var string $file */
-    static protected $file;
+    /**
+     * @var string
+     */
+    protected static $file;
 
     /**
      * @param \PHPWord $PHPWord
+     * @param string $writer
      * @return \PHPWord\Tests\XmlDocument
      */
     public static function getDocument(PHPWord $PHPWord, $writer = 'Word2007')
@@ -67,4 +70,4 @@ class TestHelperDOCX
     {
         return self::$file;
     }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.txt b/changelog.txt
index 79d506c4..23c4c4c2 100755
--- a/changelog.txt
+++ b/changelog.txt
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@
 * @version ##VERSION##, ##DATE##
 **************************************************************************************
 
-Changes in branch for release 0.9.0 :
-- QA:       (Progi1984)                         - Documentation
+Changes in branch for release 0.8.1 :
+- Feature:  (bskrtich, gabrielbull)             - Added fallback for computers that do not have exif_imagetype
 
 Changes in branch for release 0.8.0 :
 - Bugfix:   (gabrielbull)                       - Fixed bug with cell styling