diff --git a/app/logical/ffmpeg.rb b/app/logical/ffmpeg.rb
index fc4612bb2..3424d3f3b 100644
--- a/app/logical/ffmpeg.rb
+++ b/app/logical/ffmpeg.rb
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@ class FFmpeg
     output = shell!("ffprobe -v quiet -print_format json -show_format -show_streams #{file.path.shellescape}")
     json = JSON.parse(output)
     json.with_indifferent_access
-  rescue Error
-    {}
+  rescue Error => e
+    { error: e.message.strip }.with_indifferent_access
   end
 
   def width
@@ -107,6 +107,16 @@ class FFmpeg
     audio_streams.present?
   end
 
+  # @return [Boolean] True if the video is unplayable.
+  def is_corrupt?
+    error.present?
+  end
+
+  # @return [String, nil] The error message if the video is unplayable, or nil if no error.
+  def error
+    metadata[:error] || playback_info[:error]
+  end
+
   # Decode the full video and return a hash containing the frame count, fps, and runtime.
   def playback_info
     output = shell!("ffmpeg -i #{file.path.shellescape} -f null /dev/null")
@@ -117,7 +127,7 @@ class FFmpeg
     info = status_line.scan(/\S+=\s*\S+/).map { |pair| pair.split(/=\s*/) }.to_h
     info.with_indifferent_access
   rescue Error => e
-    {}
+    { error: e.message.strip }.with_indifferent_access
   end
 
   def shell!(command)
@@ -127,5 +137,5 @@ class FFmpeg
     output
   end
 
-  memoize :metadata, :playback_info, :frame_count, :duration
+  memoize :metadata, :playback_info, :frame_count, :duration, :error
 end
diff --git a/app/logical/media_file.rb b/app/logical/media_file.rb
index 1d41e97be..3a59349e5 100644
--- a/app/logical/media_file.rb
+++ b/app/logical/media_file.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ class MediaFile
   extend Memoist
   include ActiveModel::Serializers::JSON
 
-  attr_accessor :file, :strict
+  attr_accessor :file
 
   # delegate all File methods to `file`.
   delegate *(File.instance_methods - MediaFile.instance_methods), to: :file
@@ -122,11 +122,8 @@ class MediaFile
   # Initialize a MediaFile from a regular File.
   #
   # @param file [File] The image file.
-  # @param strict [Boolean] If true, raise errors if the file is corrupt. If false,
-  #   try to process corrupt files without raising any errors.
-  def initialize(file, strict: true, **options)
+  def initialize(file, **options)
     @file = file
-    @strict = strict
   end
 
   # @return [Array<(Integer, Integer)>] the width and height of the file
@@ -164,7 +161,15 @@ class MediaFile
     file.size
   end
 
+  # @return [ExifTool::Metadata] The metadata for the file. Subclasses may override this to add
+  #   extra non-ExifTool metadata, such as error messages, Ugoira frame delays, or ffprobe metadata.
+  #   This metadata may be slower to calculate than the raw `exif_metadata`.
   def metadata
+    exif_metadata
+  end
+
+  # @return [ExifTool::Metadata] The metadata for the file, as returned by ExifTool.
+  def exif_metadata
     ExifTool.new(file).metadata
   end
 
@@ -207,9 +212,14 @@ class MediaFile
     file_ext == :swf
   end
 
-  # @return [Boolean] true if the file is corrupted in some way
+  # @return [Boolean] True if the file is too corrupted to read or generate thumbnails without error.
   def is_corrupt?
-    false
+    error.present?
+  end
+
+  # @return [String, nil] The error message when reading the file, or nil if there are no errors.
+  def error
+    nil
   end
 
   # @return [Boolean] true if the file is animated. Note that GIFs and PNGs may be animated.
@@ -278,7 +288,7 @@ class MediaFile
       height: height,
       file_size: file_size,
       file_ext: file_ext,
-      mime_type: mime_type,
+      mime_type: mime_type.to_s,
       md5: md5,
       is_corrupt?: is_corrupt?,
       is_supported?: is_supported?,
@@ -302,5 +312,5 @@ class MediaFile
     end
   end
 
-  memoize :file_ext, :file_size, :md5, :metadata, :mime_type
+  memoize :file_ext, :file_size, :md5, :mime_type, :exif_metadata
 end
diff --git a/app/logical/media_file/image.rb b/app/logical/media_file/image.rb
index 0eee1bea5..9566c68d2 100644
--- a/app/logical/media_file/image.rb
+++ b/app/logical/media_file/image.rb
@@ -28,10 +28,22 @@ class MediaFile::Image < MediaFile
   end
 
   def is_corrupt?
+    error.present?
+  end
+
+  def error
+    image = Vips::Image.new_from_file(file.path, fail: true)
     image.stats
-    false
-  rescue Vips::Error
-    true
+    nil
+  rescue Vips::Error => e
+    # XXX Vips has a single global error buffer that is shared between threads and that isn't cleared between operations.
+    # We can't reliably use `e.message` here because it may pick up errors from other threads, or from previous
+    # operations in the same thread.
+    "libvips error"
+  end
+
+  def metadata
+    super.merge({ "Vips:Error" => error }.compact_blank)
   end
 
   def duration
@@ -44,7 +56,7 @@ class MediaFile::Image < MediaFile
     when :gif, :webp
       n_pages
     when :png
-      metadata.fetch("PNG:AnimationFrames", 1)
+      exif_metadata.fetch("PNG:AnimationFrames", 1)
     when :avif
       video.frame_count
     else
@@ -156,12 +168,12 @@ class MediaFile::Image < MediaFile
 
   # @return [Vips::Image] the Vips image object for the file
   def image
-    Vips::Image.new_from_file(file.path, fail: strict).autorot
+    Vips::Image.new_from_file(file.path, fail: false).autorot
   end
 
   def video
     FFmpeg.new(file)
   end
 
-  memoize :image, :video, :dimensions, :is_corrupt?, :is_animated_gif?, :is_animated_png?
+  memoize :image, :video, :preview_frame, :dimensions, :error, :metadata, :is_corrupt?, :is_animated_gif?, :is_animated_png?
 end
diff --git a/app/logical/media_file/ugoira.rb b/app/logical/media_file/ugoira.rb
index 3c7f1e925..0ef45fa93 100644
--- a/app/logical/media_file/ugoira.rb
+++ b/app/logical/media_file/ugoira.rb
@@ -108,5 +108,5 @@ class MediaFile::Ugoira < MediaFile
     FFmpeg.new(convert).smart_video_preview
   end
 
-  memoize :zipfile, :preview_frame, :dimensions, :convert
+  memoize :zipfile, :preview_frame, :dimensions, :convert, :metadata
 end
diff --git a/app/logical/media_file/video.rb b/app/logical/media_file/video.rb
index 0986ed615..07d39ebaa 100644
--- a/app/logical/media_file/video.rb
+++ b/app/logical/media_file/video.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 #
 # @see https://github.com/streamio/streamio-ffmpeg
 class MediaFile::Video < MediaFile
-  delegate :duration, :frame_count, :frame_rate, :has_audio?, :pix_fmt, :video_codec, :video_stream, :video_streams, :audio_streams, to: :video
+  delegate :duration, :frame_count, :frame_rate, :has_audio?, :is_corrupt?, :pix_fmt, :video_codec, :video_stream, :video_streams, :audio_streams, :error, to: :video
 
   def dimensions
     [video.width, video.height]
@@ -15,10 +15,14 @@ class MediaFile::Video < MediaFile
     preview_frame.preview!(max_width, max_height, **options)
   end
 
+  def metadata
+    super.merge({ "FFmpeg:Error" => error }.compact_blank)
+  end
+
   def is_supported?
     return false if video_streams.size != 1
     return false if audio_streams.size > 1
-    return false if is_webm? && metadata["Matroska:DocType"] != "webm"
+    return false if is_webm? && exif_metadata["Matroska:DocType"] != "webm"
     return false if is_mp4? && !video_codec.in?(["h264", "vp9"])
 
     # Only allow pixel formats supported by most browsers. Don't allow 10-bit video or 4:4:4 subsampling (neither are supported by Firefox).
@@ -35,11 +39,6 @@ class MediaFile::Video < MediaFile
     true
   end
 
-  # True if decoding the video fails.
-  def is_corrupt?
-    video.playback_info.blank?
-  end
-
   private
 
   def video
@@ -50,5 +49,5 @@ class MediaFile::Video < MediaFile
     video.smart_video_preview
   end
 
-  memoize :video, :preview_frame, :dimensions, :duration, :has_audio?
+  memoize :video, :preview_frame, :dimensions, :metadata, :duration, :has_audio?
 end
diff --git a/app/models/media_asset.rb b/app/models/media_asset.rb
index d99b5fb4e..14a38085a 100644
--- a/app/models/media_asset.rb
+++ b/app/models/media_asset.rb
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ class MediaAsset < ApplicationRecord
     def open_file!(&block)
       file = storage_service.open(file_path)
       frame_delays = media_asset.frame_delays if media_asset.is_ugoira?
-      MediaFile.open(file, frame_delays: frame_delays, strict: false, &block)
+      MediaFile.open(file, frame_delays: frame_delays, &block)
     end
 
     def convert_file(media_file)
diff --git a/test/unit/media_file_test.rb b/test/unit/media_file_test.rb
index e84bfcd87..b54636340 100644
--- a/test/unit/media_file_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/media_file_test.rb
@@ -467,10 +467,11 @@ class MediaFileTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
       @metadata = @file.metadata
 
       assert_equal(true, @file.is_corrupt?)
+      assert_equal("libvips error", @file.error)
       assert_equal([475, 600], @file.dimensions)
       assert_equal("File format error", @metadata["ExifTool:Error"])
       assert_equal("89a", @metadata["GIF:GIFVersion"])
-      assert_equal(9, @metadata.count)
+      assert_equal(10, @metadata.count)
     end
 
     should "not raise an exception when reading the frame count" do
@@ -478,11 +479,12 @@ class MediaFileTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
       @metadata = @file.metadata
 
       assert_equal(true, @file.is_corrupt?)
+      assert_equal("libvips error", @file.error)
       assert_equal(nil, @file.frame_count)
       assert_equal([575, 800], @file.dimensions)
       assert_equal("File format error", @metadata["ExifTool:Error"])
       assert_equal("89a", @metadata["GIF:GIFVersion"])
-      assert_equal(9, @metadata.count)
+      assert_equal(10, @metadata.count)
       assert_nothing_raised { @file.attributes }
     end
   end
@@ -493,8 +495,9 @@ class MediaFileTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
       @metadata = @file.metadata
 
       assert_equal(true, @file.is_corrupt?)
+      assert_equal("libvips error", @file.error)
       assert_equal("Grayscale", @metadata["PNG:ColorType"])
-      assert_equal(9, @metadata.count)
+      assert_equal(10, @metadata.count)
     end
   end
 
@@ -504,8 +507,9 @@ class MediaFileTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
       @metadata = @file.metadata
 
       assert_equal(true, @file.is_corrupt?)
+      assert_equal("libvips error", @file.error)
       assert_equal(1, @metadata["File:ColorComponents"])
-      assert_equal(10, @metadata.count)
+      assert_equal(11, @metadata.count)
     end
   end