diff --git a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/cli/commands/layout.ts b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/cli/commands/layout.ts
index f516366fa..c9a96123f 100644
--- a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/cli/commands/layout.ts
+++ b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/cli/commands/layout.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 import { Point, Rect } from '@votingworks/types';
 import { assert } from '@votingworks/utils';
 import chalk from 'chalk';
+import { createImageData } from 'canvas';
 import { GlobalOptions, OptionParseError } from '..';
 import { findContests, ContestShape } from '../../hmpb/find_contests';
 import { binarize, RGBA } from '../../utils/binarize';
-import { createImageData } from '../../utils/canvas';
 import { vh } from '../../utils/flip';
 import { getImageChannelCount } from '../../utils/image_format_utils';
 import { loadImageData, writeImageData } from '../../utils/images';
diff --git a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/binarize.test.ts b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/binarize.test.ts
index 445233610..e7595a838 100644
--- a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/binarize.test.ts
+++ b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/binarize.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
+import { createImageData } from 'canvas';
 import { croppedQrCode } from '../../test/fixtures';
 import { binarize, RGBA_BLACK, RGBA_WHITE } from './binarize';
-import { createImageData } from './canvas';
 
 test('binarize grayscale', async () => {
   const imageData = createImageData(2, 2);
diff --git a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/canvas.ts b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/canvas.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 3f4412e38..000000000
--- a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/canvas.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
-const RGBA_CHANNEL_COUNT = 4;
-
-export function createImageData(
-  data: Uint8ClampedArray,
-  width: number,
-  height: number
-): ImageData;
-export function createImageData(width: number, height: number): ImageData;
-export function createImageData(...args: unknown[]): ImageData {
-  let data: Uint8ClampedArray;
-  let width: number;
-  let height: number;
-
-  if (
-    args.length === 2 &&
-    typeof args[0] === 'number' &&
-    typeof args[1] === 'number'
-  ) {
-    [width, height] = args;
-    data = new Uint8ClampedArray(width * height * RGBA_CHANNEL_COUNT);
-  } else if (
-    args.length === 3 &&
-    args[0] instanceof Uint8ClampedArray &&
-    typeof args[1] === 'number' &&
-    typeof args[2] === 'number'
-  ) {
-    [data, width, height] = args;
-  } else {
-    throw new TypeError('unexpected arguments given to createImageData');
-  }
-
-  return { data, width, height };
-}
diff --git a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/crop.test.ts b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/crop.test.ts
index f000c55c3..4e3b34b2b 100644
--- a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/crop.test.ts
+++ b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/crop.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { Rect } from '@votingworks/types';
+import { createImageData } from 'canvas';
 import { randomImage, randomInset } from '../../test/utils';
-import { createImageData } from './canvas';
 import { crop } from './crop';
 
 /**
diff --git a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/crop.ts b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/crop.ts
index 516ea75f2..4482c0080 100644
--- a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/crop.ts
+++ b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/crop.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { Rect } from '@votingworks/types';
-import { createImageData } from './canvas';
+import { createImageData } from 'canvas';
 
 /**
  * Returns a new image cropped to the specified bounds.
diff --git a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/flip.test.ts b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/flip.test.ts
index aa4fbcbae..90cea68f0 100644
--- a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/flip.test.ts
+++ b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/flip.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { createImageData } from './canvas';
+import { createImageData } from 'canvas';
 import { vh } from './flip';
 
 test('vh does nothing to 1x1 image (in-place, rgba)', () => {
diff --git a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/grayscale.test.ts b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/grayscale.test.ts
index 5e1318733..95e149b35 100644
--- a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/grayscale.test.ts
+++ b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/grayscale.test.ts
@@ -1,15 +1,11 @@
-import { createImageData } from './canvas';
+import { createImageData } from 'canvas';
 import { fromGray, fromRgba } from './grayscale';
 
 test('fromGray with grayscale image', () => {
   const imageData = createImageData(Uint8ClampedArray.of(127), 1, 1);
 
   fromGray(imageData);
-  expect(imageData).toEqual({
-    data: Uint8ClampedArray.of(127),
-    width: 1,
-    height: 1,
-  });
+  expect(imageData).toEqual(createImageData(Uint8ClampedArray.of(127), 1, 1));
 });
 
 test('fromGray with grayscale image copied', () => {
@@ -32,11 +28,9 @@ test('fromRGBA with grayscale image', () => {
   );
 
   fromRgba(imageData);
-  expect(imageData).toEqual({
-    data: Uint8ClampedArray.of(127, 127, 127, 255),
-    width: 1,
-    height: 1,
-  });
+  expect(imageData).toEqual(
+    createImageData(Uint8ClampedArray.of(127, 127, 127, 255), 1, 1)
+  );
 });
 
 test('fromRGBA with grayscale image copied', () => {
@@ -55,11 +49,9 @@ test('fromRGBA with color image', () => {
   const imageData = createImageData(Uint8ClampedArray.of(255, 0, 0, 255), 1, 1);
 
   fromRgba(imageData);
-  expect(imageData).toEqual({
-    data: Uint8ClampedArray.of(53, 53, 53, 255),
-    width: 1,
-    height: 1,
-  });
+  expect(imageData).toEqual(
+    createImageData(Uint8ClampedArray.of(53, 53, 53, 255), 1, 1)
+  );
 });
 
 test('fromRGBA with color image copied RGBA image', () => {
@@ -71,11 +63,9 @@ test('fromRGBA with color image copied RGBA image', () => {
   );
 
   fromRgba(src, dst);
-  expect(dst).toEqual({
-    data: Uint8ClampedArray.of(53, 53, 53, 255),
-    width: 1,
-    height: 1,
-  });
+  expect(dst).toEqual(
+    createImageData(Uint8ClampedArray.of(53, 53, 53, 255), 1, 1)
+  );
 });
 
 test('fromRGBA with color image copied to single-channel image', () => {
@@ -87,9 +77,5 @@ test('fromRGBA with color image copied to single-channel image', () => {
   );
 
   fromRgba(src, dst);
-  expect(dst).toEqual({
-    data: Uint8ClampedArray.of(53),
-    width: 1,
-    height: 1,
-  });
+  expect(dst).toEqual(createImageData(Uint8ClampedArray.of(53), 1, 1));
 });
diff --git a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/jsfeat/diff.test.ts b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/jsfeat/diff.test.ts
index c3efadadf..743888660 100644
--- a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/jsfeat/diff.test.ts
+++ b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/jsfeat/diff.test.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { Rect } from '@votingworks/types';
+import { createImageData } from 'canvas';
 import { croppedQrCode } from '../../../test/fixtures';
 import { PIXEL_BLACK, PIXEL_WHITE } from '../binarize';
-import { createImageData } from '../canvas';
 import { crop } from '../crop';
 import { diff, countPixels, ratio } from './diff';
 
diff --git a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/jsfeat/mat_to_image_data.ts b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/jsfeat/mat_to_image_data.ts
index d637443a4..c4a51e348 100644
--- a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/jsfeat/mat_to_image_data.ts
+++ b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/jsfeat/mat_to_image_data.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import * as jsfeat from 'jsfeat';
-import { createImageData } from '../canvas';
+import { createImageData } from 'canvas';
 
 export function matToImageData(mat: jsfeat.matrix_t): ImageData {
   const imageData = createImageData(mat.cols, mat.rows);
diff --git a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/outline.ts b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/outline.ts
index 082d5a9ac..192fd53b4 100644
--- a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/outline.ts
+++ b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/outline.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
+import { createImageData } from 'canvas';
 import { PIXEL_BLACK } from './binarize';
-import { createImageData } from './canvas';
 import { getImageChannelCount } from './image_format_utils';
 
 /**
diff --git a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/template_map.test.ts b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/template_map.test.ts
index d1be465e1..2e44aad43 100644
--- a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/template_map.test.ts
+++ b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/src/utils/template_map.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { BallotType, BallotPageLayoutWithImage } from '@votingworks/types';
-import { createImageData } from './canvas';
+import { createImageData } from 'canvas';
 import { templateMap, TemplateMapKey } from './template_map';
 
 test('no locale info', () => {
diff --git a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/test/utils.ts b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/test/utils.ts
index dc094c32c..3366588ac 100644
--- a/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/test/utils.ts
+++ b/libs/ballot-interpreter-vx/test/utils.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { Rect } from '@votingworks/types';
 import { assert } from '@votingworks/utils';
 import { randomBytes } from 'crypto';
-import { createImageData } from '../src/utils/canvas';
+import { createImageData } from 'canvas';
 
 export function randomImage({
   width = 0,