diff --git a/src/nautilus-file-private.h b/src/nautilus-file-private.h
index d5d26c8b396cb625e7dd123bdcca98393b416f3b..e9d49530c706c98b4e74dd6ee1ba8494c5d41578 100644
--- a/src/nautilus-file-private.h
+++ b/src/nautilus-file-private.h
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 #include "nautilus-file-undo-operations.h"
 
 #define NAUTILUS_FILE_DEFAULT_ATTRIBUTES				\
-	"standard::*,access::*,mountable::*,time::*,unix::*,owner::*,selinux::*,thumbnail::*,id::filesystem,trash::orig-path,trash::deletion-date,metadata::*,recent::*"
+	"standard::*,access::*,mountable::*,time::*,unix::*,owner::*,selinux::*,thumbnail::*,id::filesystem,trash::orig-path,trash::deletion-date,metadata::*,recent::*,preview::icon"
 
 /* These are in the typical sort order. Known things come first, then
  * things where we can't know, finally things where we don't yet know.
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ struct NautilusFileDetails
 	guint start_stop_type               : 3; /* GDriveStartStopType */
 	guint can_poll_for_media            : 1;
 	guint is_media_check_automatic      : 1;
+	guint has_preview_icon              : 1;
 
 	guint filesystem_readonly           : 1;
 	guint filesystem_use_preview        : 2; /* GFilesystemPreviewType */
diff --git a/src/nautilus-file.c b/src/nautilus-file.c
index 2999f2fa5beaa24c2e648ffaf3e5985a36eb51bf..d9d988ccdd488e08057cb0c116761e39b4eacf26 100644
--- a/src/nautilus-file.c
+++ b/src/nautilus-file.c
@@ -2914,6 +2914,11 @@ update_info_internal (NautilusFile *file,
         file->details->trash_orig_path = g_strdup (trash_orig_path);
     }
 
+    if (g_file_info_has_attribute (info, G_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_PREVIEW_ICON))
+    {
+        file->details->has_preview_icon = TRUE;
+    }
+
     changed |=
         nautilus_file_update_metadata_from_info (file, info);
 
@@ -4836,6 +4841,15 @@ nautilus_file_should_show_thumbnail (NautilusFile *file)
         return FALSE;
     }
 
+    if (show_file_thumbs != NAUTILUS_SPEED_TRADEOFF_NEVER &&
+        file->details->has_preview_icon)
+    {
+        /* The thumbnail should be generated if the preview icon is available
+         * regardless of the filesystem type (i.e. for MTP/GPhoto2 backends).
+         */
+        return TRUE;
+    }
+
     return get_speed_tradeoff_preference_for_file (file, show_file_thumbs);
 }