diff --git a/desktop/src/main/ipc.ts b/desktop/src/main/ipc.ts
index 01f481f8e..1a9582862 100644
--- a/desktop/src/main/ipc.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/main/ipc.ts
@@ -54,9 +54,9 @@ import {
 import {
     clearPendingUploads,
     listZipEntries,
-    pathOrZipEntrySize,
     markUploadedFiles,
     markUploadedZipEntries,
+    pathOrZipEntrySize,
     pendingUploads,
     setPendingUploads,
 } from "./services/upload";
@@ -152,10 +152,11 @@ export const attachIPCHandlers = () => {
         "generateImageThumbnail",
         (
             _,
-            dataOrPath: Uint8Array | string,
+            dataOrPathOrZipEntry: Uint8Array | string | ZipEntry,
             maxDimension: number,
             maxSize: number,
-        ) => generateImageThumbnail(dataOrPath, maxDimension, maxSize),
+        ) =>
+            generateImageThumbnail(dataOrPathOrZipEntry, maxDimension, maxSize),
     );
 
     ipcMain.handle(
@@ -163,10 +164,16 @@ export const attachIPCHandlers = () => {
         (
             _,
             command: string[],
-            dataOrPath: Uint8Array | string,
+            dataOrPathOrZipEntry: Uint8Array | string | ZipEntry,
             outputFileExtension: string,
             timeoutMS: number,
-        ) => ffmpegExec(command, dataOrPath, outputFileExtension, timeoutMS),
+        ) =>
+            ffmpegExec(
+                command,
+                dataOrPathOrZipEntry,
+                outputFileExtension,
+                timeoutMS,
+            ),
     );
 
     // - ML
diff --git a/desktop/src/main/services/image.ts b/desktop/src/main/services/image.ts
index 26b4b351e..894ff3404 100644
--- a/desktop/src/main/services/image.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/main/services/image.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 /** @file Image format conversions and thumbnail generation */
 
+import StreamZip from "node-stream-zip";
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import path from "path";
-import { CustomErrorMessage } from "../../types/ipc";
+import { CustomErrorMessage, type ZipEntry } from "../../types/ipc";
 import log from "../log";
 import { execAsync, isDev } from "../utils-electron";
 import { deleteTempFile, makeTempFilePath } from "../utils-temp";
@@ -63,18 +64,31 @@ const imageMagickPath = () =>
     path.join(isDev ? "build" : process.resourcesPath, "image-magick");
 
 export const generateImageThumbnail = async (
-    dataOrPath: Uint8Array | string,
+    dataOrPathOrZipEntry: Uint8Array | string | ZipEntry,
     maxDimension: number,
     maxSize: number,
 ): Promise<Uint8Array> => {
     let inputFilePath: string;
     let isInputFileTemporary: boolean;
-    if (dataOrPath instanceof Uint8Array) {
+    let writeToTemporaryInputFile = async () => {};
+    if (typeof dataOrPathOrZipEntry == "string") {
+        inputFilePath = dataOrPathOrZipEntry;
+        isInputFileTemporary = false;
+    } else {
         inputFilePath = await makeTempFilePath();
         isInputFileTemporary = true;
-    } else {
-        inputFilePath = dataOrPath;
-        isInputFileTemporary = false;
+        if (dataOrPathOrZipEntry instanceof Uint8Array) {
+            writeToTemporaryInputFile = async () => {
+                await fs.writeFile(inputFilePath, dataOrPathOrZipEntry);
+            };
+        } else {
+            writeToTemporaryInputFile = async () => {
+                const [zipPath, entryName] = dataOrPathOrZipEntry;
+                const zip = new StreamZip.async({ file: zipPath });
+                await zip.extract(entryName, inputFilePath);
+                zip.close();
+            };
+        }
     }
 
     const outputFilePath = await makeTempFilePath("jpeg");
@@ -89,8 +103,7 @@ export const generateImageThumbnail = async (
     );
 
     try {
-        if (dataOrPath instanceof Uint8Array)
-            await fs.writeFile(inputFilePath, dataOrPath);
+        writeToTemporaryInputFile();
 
         let thumbnail: Uint8Array;
         do {
diff --git a/desktop/src/main/stream.ts b/desktop/src/main/stream.ts
index ddd639c30..c51887449 100644
--- a/desktop/src/main/stream.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/main/stream.ts
@@ -97,9 +97,7 @@ const handleRead = async (path: string) => {
 
 const handleReadZip = async (zipPath: string, zipEntryPath: string) => {
     try {
-        const zip = new StreamZip.async({
-            file: zipPath,
-        });
+        const zip = new StreamZip.async({ file: zipPath });
         const entry = await zip.entry(zipEntryPath);
         const stream = await zip.stream(entry);
 
diff --git a/desktop/src/preload.ts b/desktop/src/preload.ts
index 226a80767..76d44591e 100644
--- a/desktop/src/preload.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/preload.ts
@@ -129,27 +129,27 @@ const convertToJPEG = (imageData: Uint8Array): Promise<Uint8Array> =>
     ipcRenderer.invoke("convertToJPEG", imageData);
 
 const generateImageThumbnail = (
-    dataOrPath: Uint8Array | string,
+    dataOrPathOrZipEntry: Uint8Array | string | ZipEntry,
     maxDimension: number,
     maxSize: number,
 ): Promise<Uint8Array> =>
     ipcRenderer.invoke(
         "generateImageThumbnail",
-        dataOrPath,
+        dataOrPathOrZipEntry,
         maxDimension,
         maxSize,
     );
 
 const ffmpegExec = (
     command: string[],
-    dataOrPath: Uint8Array | string,
+    dataOrPathOrZipEntry: Uint8Array | string | ZipEntry,
     outputFileExtension: string,
     timeoutMS: number,
 ): Promise<Uint8Array> =>
     ipcRenderer.invoke(
         "ffmpegExec",
         command,
-        dataOrPath,
+        dataOrPathOrZipEntry,
         outputFileExtension,
         timeoutMS,
     );
diff --git a/web/packages/next/types/ipc.ts b/web/packages/next/types/ipc.ts
index 34bb9196a..4b3d97dd3 100644
--- a/web/packages/next/types/ipc.ts
+++ b/web/packages/next/types/ipc.ts
@@ -221,22 +221,27 @@ export interface Electron {
      * not yet possible, this function will throw an error with the
      * {@link CustomErrorMessage.NotAvailable} message.
      *
-     * @param dataOrPath The raw image data (the contents of the image file), or
-     * the path to the image file, whose thumbnail we want to generate.
+     * @param dataOrPathOrZipEntry The file whose thumbnail we want to generate.
+     * It can be provided as raw image data (the contents of the image file), or
+     * the path to the image file, or a tuple containing the path of the zip
+     * file along with the name of an entry in it.
+     *
      * @param maxDimension The maximum width or height of the generated
      * thumbnail.
+     *
      * @param maxSize Maximum size (in bytes) of the generated thumbnail.
      *
      * @returns JPEG data of the generated thumbnail.
      */
     generateImageThumbnail: (
-        dataOrPath: Uint8Array | string,
+        dataOrPathOrZipEntry: Uint8Array | string | ZipEntry,
         maxDimension: number,
         maxSize: number,
     ) => Promise<Uint8Array>;
 
     /**
-     * Execute a FFmpeg {@link command} on the given {@link dataOrPath}.
+     * Execute a FFmpeg {@link command} on the given
+     * {@link dataOrPathOrZipEntry}.
      *
      * This executes the command using a FFmpeg executable we bundle with our
      * desktop app. We also have a wasm FFmpeg wasm implementation that we use
@@ -249,10 +254,11 @@ export interface Electron {
      * (respectively {@link inputPathPlaceholder},
      * {@link outputPathPlaceholder}, {@link ffmpegPathPlaceholder}).
      *
-     * @param dataOrPath The bytes of the input file, or the path to the input
-     * file on the user's local disk. In both cases, the data gets serialized to
-     * a temporary file, and then that path gets substituted in the FFmpeg
-     * {@link command} in lieu of {@link inputPathPlaceholder}.
+     * @param dataOrPathOrZipEntry The bytes of the input file, or the path to
+     * the input file on the user's local disk, or the path to a zip file on the
+     * user's disk and the name of an entry in it. In all three cases, the data
+     * gets serialized to a temporary file, and then that path gets substituted
+     * in the FFmpeg {@link command} in lieu of {@link inputPathPlaceholder}.
      *
      * @param outputFileExtension The extension (without the dot, e.g. "jpeg")
      * to use for the output file that we ask FFmpeg to create in
@@ -268,7 +274,7 @@ export interface Electron {
      */
     ffmpegExec: (
         command: string[],
-        dataOrPath: Uint8Array | string,
+        dataOrPathOrZipEntry: Uint8Array | string | ZipEntry,
         outputFileExtension: string,
         timeoutMS: number,
     ) => Promise<Uint8Array>;