diff --git a/internal/thumb/vips.go b/internal/thumb/vips.go
index fdf712911..a45a62269 100644
--- a/internal/thumb/vips.go
+++ b/internal/thumb/vips.go
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ func Vips(imageName string, imageBuffer []byte, hash, thumbPath string, width, h
 		// Use defaults.
 	}
 
+	// Embed an ICC profile when a JPEG declares its color space via the EXIF InteroperabilityIndex tag.
 	if err = vipsSetIccProfileForInteropIndex(img, clean.Log(filepath.Base(imageName))); err != nil {
 		log.Debugf("vips: %s in %s (set icc profile for interop index tag)", err, clean.Log(filepath.Base(imageName)))
 	}
diff --git a/internal/thumb/vips_icc.go b/internal/thumb/vips_icc.go
index bc63246a2..d58bada98 100644
--- a/internal/thumb/vips_icc.go
+++ b/internal/thumb/vips_icc.go
@@ -30,7 +30,21 @@ func vipsSetIccProfileForInteropIndex(img *vips.ImageRef, logName string) (err e
 	// Some cameras signal color space via EXIF InteroperabilityIndex instead of
 	// embedding an ICC profile. Browsers and libvips ignore this tag, so we
 	// inject a matching ICC profile to produce correct thumbnails.
-	iiFull := img.GetString("exif-ifd4-InteroperabilityIndex")
+	iiField := "exif-ifd4-InteroperabilityIndex"
+	hasInterop := false
+
+	for _, field := range img.GetFields() {
+		if field == iiField {
+			hasInterop = true
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
+	if !hasInterop {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	iiFull := img.GetString(iiField)
 
 	if iiFull == "" {
 		return nil