Storing texture in Alpha Channel appears weaker than in Color Channel?

Hi Epic Staff,

I have no idea what is going on here, but when storing a grayscale image in the texture’s alpha channel (left image below), it appears significantly washed out compared to storing the same grayscale image in a color channel (right image below). My only guess is perhaps UE4 is adding white to the areas in the alpha channel that should be black.

Thanks so much for looking into this!

-Adam