self._backlight_type = None
         if backlight_pin is not None:
-            self._backlight_type = BACKLIGHT_IN_OUT
-            self._backlight = digitalio.DigitalInOut(backlight_pin)
-            self._backlight.switch_to_output()
+            try:
+                from pulseio import PWMOut  # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
+
+                # 100Hz looks decent and doesn't keep the CPU too busy
+                self._backlight = PWMOut(backlight_pin, frequency=100, duty_cycle=0)
+                self._backlight_type = BACKLIGHT_PWM
+            except ImportError:
+                # PWMOut not implemented on this platform
+                pass
+            if self._backlight_type is None:
+                self._backlight_type = BACKLIGHT_IN_OUT
+                self._backlight = digitalio.DigitalInOut(backlight_pin)
+                self._backlight.switch_to_output()
             self.brightness = brightness
 
     # pylint: enable=too-many-locals
         self._bus.end_transaction()
 
     def _release(self):
-        self._bus.release()
+        self._bus._release()  # pylint: disable=protected-access
         self._bus = None
 
     def show(self, group):
         """Encode a postion into bytes."""
         return struct.pack(self._bounds_encoding, x, y)
 
+    def _rgb_tuple_to_rgb565(self, color_tuple):
+        return (
+            ((color_tuple[0] & 0x00F8) << 8)
+            | ((color_tuple[1] & 0x00FC) << 3)
+            | (color_tuple[2] & 0x00F8) >> 3
+        )
+
     def fill_row(self, y, buffer):
         """Extract the pixels from a single row"""
-        pass
+        for x in range(0, self._width):
+            _rgb_565 = self._rgb_tuple_to_rgb565(self._buffer.getpixel((x, y)))
+            buffer[x * 2] = (_rgb_565 >> 8) & 0xff
+            buffer[x * 2 + 1] = _rgb_565 & 0xff
+        return buffer
 
     @property
     def auto_refresh(self):
             self._brightness = value
             if self._backlight_type == BACKLIGHT_IN_OUT:
                 self._backlight.value = round(self._brightness)
-            # PWM not currently implemented
-            # Command-based brightness not implemented
+            elif self._backlight_type == BACKLIGHT_PWM:
+                self._backlight.duty_cycle = self._brightness * 65535
+            elif self._brightness_command is not None:
+                self._write(self._brightness_command, round(value * 255))
         else:
             raise ValueError("Brightness must be between 0.0 and 1.0")