diff --git a/src_c/_pygame.h b/src_c/_pygame.h
index 2c701c0edb..bce92dac3b 100644
--- a/src_c/_pygame.h
+++ b/src_c/_pygame.h
@@ -77,9 +77,17 @@
 
 #define PG_CreateSurface SDL_CreateSurface
 #define PG_CreateSurfaceFrom SDL_CreateSurfaceFrom
-#define PG_ConvertSurface SDL_ConvertSurface
 #define PG_ConvertSurfaceFormat SDL_ConvertSurface
 
+/* Convert surface using palette and format of dst */
+static inline SDL_Surface *
+PG_ConvertSurface(SDL_Surface *surface, SDL_Surface *dst)
+{
+    return SDL_ConvertSurfaceAndColorspace(surface, dst->format,
+                                           SDL_GetSurfacePalette(dst),
+                                           SDL_GetSurfaceColorspace(dst), 0);
+}
+
 #define PG_PixelFormatEnum SDL_PixelFormat
 
 #define PG_SurfaceHasRLE SDL_SurfaceHasRLE
@@ -144,11 +152,23 @@ PG_SURF_BitsPerPixel(SDL_Surface *surf)
 
 #define PG_PixelFormat const SDL_PixelFormatDetails
 
+static inline SDL_Palette *
+PG_GetSurfacePalette(SDL_Surface *surf)
+{
+    SDL_Palette *ret = SDL_GetSurfacePalette(surf);
+    if (!ret && SDL_ISPIXELFORMAT_INDEXED(surf->format)) {
+        /* Palette doesn't exist but is expected, so create it.
+         * SDL will associate the newly created palette with the surface */
+        ret = SDL_CreateSurfacePalette(surf);
+    }
+    return ret;
+}
+
 static inline bool
 PG_GetSurfaceDetails(SDL_Surface *surf, PG_PixelFormat **format_p,
                      SDL_Palette **palette_p)
 {
-    *palette_p = SDL_GetSurfacePalette(surf);
+    *palette_p = PG_GetSurfacePalette(surf);
     *format_p = SDL_GetPixelFormatDetails(surf->format);
     return *format_p != NULL;
 }
@@ -159,7 +179,6 @@ PG_GetSurfaceFormat(SDL_Surface *surf)
     return SDL_GetPixelFormatDetails(surf->format);
 }
 
-#define PG_GetSurfacePalette SDL_GetSurfacePalette
 #define PG_SetPaletteColors SDL_SetPaletteColors
 #define PG_SetSurfacePalette SDL_SetSurfacePalette
 #define PG_SetSurfaceColorKey SDL_SetSurfaceColorKey
@@ -215,10 +234,15 @@ PG_GetSurfaceFormat(SDL_Surface *surf)
     SDL_CreateRGBSurfaceWithFormat(0, width, height, 0, format)
 #define PG_CreateSurfaceFrom(width, height, format, pixels, pitch) \
     SDL_CreateRGBSurfaceWithFormatFrom(pixels, width, height, 0, pitch, format)
-#define PG_ConvertSurface(src, fmt) SDL_ConvertSurface(src, fmt, 0)
 #define PG_ConvertSurfaceFormat(src, pixel_format) \
     SDL_ConvertSurfaceFormat(src, pixel_format, 0)
 
+static inline SDL_Surface *
+PG_ConvertSurface(SDL_Surface *surface, SDL_Surface *dst)
+{
+    return SDL_ConvertSurface(surface, dst->format, 0);
+}
+
 #define PG_PixelFormatEnum SDL_PixelFormatEnum
 
 #define PG_SoftStretchNearest(src, srcrect, dst, dstrect) \
diff --git a/src_c/draw.c b/src_c/draw.c
index 7684d19493..5c682bcc4c 100644
--- a/src_c/draw.c
+++ b/src_c/draw.c
@@ -1334,7 +1334,7 @@ flood_fill(PyObject *self, PyObject *arg, PyObject *kwargs)
     if (pgSurface_Check(colorobj)) {
         pat_surfobj = ((pgSurfaceObject *)colorobj);
 
-        pattern = PG_ConvertSurface(pat_surfobj->surf, surf->format);
+        pattern = PG_ConvertSurface(pat_surfobj->surf, surf);
 
         if (pattern == NULL) {
             return RAISE(PyExc_RuntimeError, "error converting pattern surf");
diff --git a/src_c/pixelarray_methods.c b/src_c/pixelarray_methods.c
index 3663ab30ae..56ba27025e 100644
--- a/src_c/pixelarray_methods.c
+++ b/src_c/pixelarray_methods.c
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ _make_surface(pgPixelArrayObject *array, PyObject *args)
     }
 
     /* Ensure the new surface has the same format as the original */
-    new_surf = PG_ConvertSurface(temp_surf, surf->format);
+    new_surf = PG_ConvertSurface(temp_surf, surf);
     if (temp_surf != surf) {
         SDL_FreeSurface(temp_surf);
     }
diff --git a/src_c/surface.c b/src_c/surface.c
index 59bb6b9a9f..d108a3bee5 100644
--- a/src_c/surface.c
+++ b/src_c/surface.c
@@ -1620,7 +1620,7 @@ surf_copy(pgSurfaceObject *self, PyObject *_null)
     SURF_INIT_CHECK(surf)
 
     pgSurface_Prep(self);
-    newsurf = PG_ConvertSurface(surf, surf->format);
+    newsurf = PG_ConvertSurface(surf, surf);
     pgSurface_Unprep(self);
 
     final = surf_subtype_new(Py_TYPE(self), newsurf, 1);
@@ -1680,7 +1680,7 @@ surf_convert(pgSurfaceObject *self, PyObject *args)
     if (argobject) {
         if (pgSurface_Check(argobject)) {
             src = pgSurface_AsSurface(argobject);
-            newsurf = PG_ConvertSurface(surf, src->format);
+            newsurf = PG_ConvertSurface(surf, src);
         }
         else {
             /* will be updated later, initialize to make static analyzer happy
@@ -1834,7 +1834,7 @@ surf_convert(pgSurfaceObject *self, PyObject *args)
     if (argobject) {
         if (pgSurface_Check(argobject)) {
             src = pgSurface_AsSurface(argobject);
-            newsurf = PG_ConvertSurface(surf, src->format);
+            newsurf = PG_ConvertSurface(surf, src);
         }
         else {
             /* will be updated later, initialize to make static analyzer happy
@@ -1951,7 +1951,7 @@ surf_convert(pgSurfaceObject *self, PyObject *args)
                     SDL_SetPixelFormatPalette(format, palette);
                 }
             }
-            newsurf = PG_ConvertSurface(surf, format);
+            newsurf = SDL_ConvertSurface(surf, format, 0);
             SDL_SetSurfaceBlendMode(newsurf, SDL_BLENDMODE_NONE);
             SDL_FreeFormat(format);
             SDL_FreePalette(palette);
@@ -3753,7 +3753,7 @@ surf_premul_alpha(pgSurfaceObject *self, PyObject *_null)
 
     pgSurface_Prep(self);
     // Make a copy of the surface first
-    newsurf = PG_ConvertSurface(surf, surf->format);
+    newsurf = PG_ConvertSurface(surf, surf);
 
     if ((surf->w > 0 && surf->h > 0)) {
         // If the surface has no pixels we don't need to premul