diff --git a/blocks/api/raw-handling/strip-attributes.js b/blocks/api/raw-handling/strip-attributes.js
index 6d5ade2f436c47..832f71c9e36d5f 100644
--- a/blocks/api/raw-handling/strip-attributes.js
+++ b/blocks/api/raw-handling/strip-attributes.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ const { ELEMENT_NODE } = window.Node;
 /**
  * Internal dependencies
  */
-import { isAttributeWhitelisted } from './utils';
+import { isAttributeWhitelisted, isClassWhitelisted } from './utils';
 
 export default function( node ) {
 	if ( node.nodeType !== ELEMENT_NODE ) {
@@ -20,10 +20,27 @@ export default function( node ) {
 	const tag = node.nodeName.toLowerCase();
 
 	Array.from( node.attributes ).forEach( ( { name } ) => {
-		if ( isAttributeWhitelisted( tag, name ) ) {
+		if ( name === 'class' || isAttributeWhitelisted( tag, name ) ) {
 			return;
 		}
 
 		node.removeAttribute( name );
 	} );
+
+	const oldClasses = node.getAttribute( 'class' );
+
+	if ( ! oldClasses ) {
+		return;
+	}
+
+	const newClasses = oldClasses
+		.split( ' ' )
+		.filter( ( name ) => name && isClassWhitelisted( tag, name ) )
+		.join( ' ' );
+
+	if ( newClasses.length ) {
+		node.setAttribute( 'class', newClasses );
+	} else {
+		node.removeAttribute( 'class' );
+	}
 }
diff --git a/blocks/api/raw-handling/test/strip-attributes.js b/blocks/api/raw-handling/test/strip-attributes.js
index 43dc12511364df..a68469cb202f4f 100644
--- a/blocks/api/raw-handling/test/strip-attributes.js
+++ b/blocks/api/raw-handling/test/strip-attributes.js
@@ -29,4 +29,8 @@ describe( 'stripAttributes', () => {
 	it( 'should keep some attributes', () => {
 		equal( deepFilterHTML( '<a href="#keep">test</a>', [ stripAttributes ] ), '<a href="#keep">test</a>' );
 	} );
+
+	it( 'should keep some classes', () => {
+		equal( deepFilterHTML( '<img class="alignright test" src="">', [ stripAttributes ] ), '<img class="alignright" src="">' );
+	} );
 } );
diff --git a/blocks/api/raw-handling/utils.js b/blocks/api/raw-handling/utils.js
index 38689919f2c990..777c0796eaafb9 100644
--- a/blocks/api/raw-handling/utils.js
+++ b/blocks/api/raw-handling/utils.js
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ const inlineWrapperWhiteList = {
 const whitelist = {
 	...inlineWhitelist,
 	...inlineWrapperWhiteList,
-	img: { attributes: [ 'src', 'alt' ] },
+	img: { attributes: [ 'src', 'alt' ], classes: [ 'alignleft', 'aligncenter', 'alignright', 'alignnone' ] },
 	figure: {},
 	blockquote: {},
 	hr: {},
@@ -100,6 +100,14 @@ export function isInline( node, tagName ) {
 	return !! inlineWhitelist[ nodeName ] || isInlineForTag( nodeName, tagName );
 }
 
+export function isClassWhitelisted( tag, name ) {
+	return (
+		whitelist[ tag ] &&
+		whitelist[ tag ].classes &&
+		whitelist[ tag ].classes.indexOf( name ) !== -1
+	);
+}
+
 export function isInlineWrapper( node ) {
 	return !! inlineWrapperWhiteList[ node.nodeName.toLowerCase() ];
 }
diff --git a/blocks/library/image/index.js b/blocks/library/image/index.js
index 4c94d5f26de71b..1148571aef77a0 100644
--- a/blocks/library/image/index.js
+++ b/blocks/library/image/index.js
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import { createMediaFromFile } from '@wordpress/utils';
  */
 import './style.scss';
 import './editor.scss';
-import { registerBlockType, createBlock } from '../../api';
+import { registerBlockType, createBlock, getBlockAttributes, getBlockType } from '../../api';
 import ImageBlock from './block';
 
 registerBlockType( 'core/image', {
@@ -63,13 +63,22 @@ registerBlockType( 'core/image', {
 		from: [
 			{
 				type: 'raw',
-				isMatch: ( node ) => {
+				isMatch( node ) {
 					const tag = node.nodeName.toLowerCase();
 					const hasText = !! node.textContent.trim();
 					const hasImage = node.querySelector( 'img' );
 
 					return tag === 'img' || ( hasImage && ! hasText ) || ( hasImage && tag === 'figure' );
 				},
+				transform( node ) {
+					const targetNode = node.parentNode.querySelector( 'figure,img' );
+					const matches = /align(left|center|right)/.exec( targetNode.className );
+					const align = matches ? matches[ 1 ] : undefined;
+					const blockType = getBlockType( 'core/image' );
+					const attributes = getBlockAttributes( blockType, targetNode.outerHTML, { align } );
+
+					return createBlock( 'core/image', attributes );
+				},
 			},
 			{
 				type: 'files',