diff --git a/electron/ipc/project/thumbnailFreshness.test.ts b/electron/ipc/project/thumbnailFreshness.test.ts
index 69355243..c70c576b 100644
--- a/electron/ipc/project/thumbnailFreshness.test.ts
+++ b/electron/ipc/project/thumbnailFreshness.test.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import path from "node:path";
 import { expect, it } from "vitest";
 import { hasFreshProjectThumbnail } from "./thumbnailFreshness";
 
-it("rejects legacy, stale, missing and broken previews while accepting a fresh high-resolution PNG", async () => {
+it("rejects legacy, stale, missing and broken previews while accepting a fresh current-size or larger PNG", async () => {
 	const dir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "recordly-preview-"));
 	const file = path.join(dir, "preview.png");
 	try {
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ it("rejects legacy, stale, missing and broken previews while accepting a fresh h
 		header.writeUInt32BE(180, 20);
 		await fs.writeFile(file, header);
 		expect(await hasFreshProjectThumbnail(file, 0)).toBe(false);
+		header.writeUInt32BE(640, 16);
+		header.writeUInt32BE(480, 20);
+		await fs.writeFile(file, header);
+		expect(await hasFreshProjectThumbnail(file, 0)).toBe(true);
 		header.writeUInt32BE(1600, 16);
 		header.writeUInt32BE(1200, 20);
 		await fs.writeFile(file, header);
diff --git a/electron/ipc/project/thumbnailFreshness.ts b/electron/ipc/project/thumbnailFreshness.ts
index 00db1986..89f33cf6 100644
--- a/electron/ipc/project/thumbnailFreshness.ts
+++ b/electron/ipc/project/thumbnailFreshness.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
+import {
+	PROJECT_THUMBNAIL_WIDTH,
+	PROJECT_THUMBNAIL_HEIGHT,
+} from "../../../src/lib/projectThumbnail";
 
 // Older releases wrote 320px previews. Hide those and previews predating edits;
-// the editor replaces them with a full-resolution render when returning home.
+// the editor replaces them with a current-size render when returning home.
 export async function hasFreshProjectThumbnail(thumbnailPath: string, projectModifiedAt: number) {
 	let file: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof fs.open>> | undefined;
 	try {
@@ -13,8 +17,8 @@ export async function hasFreshProjectThumbnail(thumbnailPath: string, projectMod
 		return (
 			bytesRead === 24 &&
 			header.subarray(0, 8).equals(Buffer.from([137, 80, 78, 71, 13, 10, 26, 10])) &&
-			header.readUInt32BE(16) >= 1600 &&
-			header.readUInt32BE(20) >= 1200
+			header.readUInt32BE(16) >= PROJECT_THUMBNAIL_WIDTH &&
+			header.readUInt32BE(20) >= PROJECT_THUMBNAIL_HEIGHT
 		);
 	} catch {
 		return false;
diff --git a/src/components/video-editor/project/useProjectLibraryController.ts b/src/components/video-editor/project/useProjectLibraryController.ts
index 199b15d7..f789678e 100644
--- a/src/components/video-editor/project/useProjectLibraryController.ts
+++ b/src/components/video-editor/project/useProjectLibraryController.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 /* biome-ignore-all lint/correctness/useExhaustiveDependencies: grouped editor domain objects contain the thumbnail renderer dependencies. */
 import { type RefObject, useCallback, useEffect, useRef } from "react";
+import { PROJECT_THUMBNAIL_WIDTH, PROJECT_THUMBNAIL_HEIGHT } from "@/lib/projectThumbnail";
 import { FrameRenderer } from "@/lib/exporter/frameRenderer";
 import { toFileUrl } from "../projectPersistence";
 import type { useAppearanceState } from "../state/useAppearanceState";
@@ -112,8 +113,8 @@ export function useProjectLibraryController({
 		}
 
 		const canvas = document.createElement("canvas");
-		const targetWidth = 640;
-		const targetHeight = 480;
+		const targetWidth = PROJECT_THUMBNAIL_WIDTH;
+		const targetHeight = PROJECT_THUMBNAIL_HEIGHT;
 		canvas.width = targetWidth;
 		canvas.height = targetHeight;
 
diff --git a/src/lib/projectThumbnail.ts b/src/lib/projectThumbnail.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1882c214
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/projectThumbnail.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+/** Shared by thumbnail generation and the persisted-preview freshness check. */
+export const PROJECT_THUMBNAIL_WIDTH = 640;
+export const PROJECT_THUMBNAIL_HEIGHT = 480;
diff --git a/tests/ui/project-dashboard.spec.ts b/tests/ui/project-dashboard.spec.ts
index 2e517e00..fc51e905 100644
--- a/tests/ui/project-dashboard.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/ui/project-dashboard.spec.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+import fs from "node:fs/promises";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { hasFreshProjectThumbnail } from "../../electron/ipc/project/thumbnailFreshness";
 import { expect, test } from "@playwright/test";
 import { installDesktopBridge } from "./bridge";
 
@@ -140,8 +143,30 @@ test("home dashboard explains an empty library", async ({ page }) => {
 
 test("autosave creates one untitled project, stays idle without edits, and refreshes its preview on exit without a saved toast", async ({
 	page,
-}) => {
+}, testInfo) => {
 	await installDesktopBridge(page);
+	await page.addInitScript(() => {
+		const save = window.electronAPI.saveProjectFile;
+		window.electronAPI.saveProjectFile = async (...args) => {
+			const result = await save(...args);
+			if (args[3]) document.documentElement.dataset.savedThumbnail = args[3];
+			return result;
+		};
+		window.electronAPI.listProjectFiles = async () => ({
+			success: true,
+			projects: [],
+			entries: [
+				{
+					path: "/projects/preview.recordly",
+					name: "Generated preview",
+					updatedAt: 1,
+					thumbnailPath: document.documentElement.dataset.savedThumbnail ?? null,
+					isCurrent: true,
+					isInProjectsDirectory: true,
+				},
+			],
+		});
+	});
 	await page.goto("/?windowType=editor");
 	await expect(page.locator("html")).toHaveAttribute("data-project-creates", "1");
 	await expect(page.getByRole("button", { name: "Rename project" })).toContainText(
@@ -158,6 +183,19 @@ test("autosave creates one untitled project, stays idle without edits, and refre
 		"data-saved-thumbnail",
 		/^data:image\/png;base64,/,
 	);
+	const thumbnail = await page.locator("html").getAttribute("data-saved-thumbnail");
+	const file = testInfo.outputPath("generated-preview.png");
+	await fs.mkdir(path.dirname(file), { recursive: true });
+	await fs.writeFile(file, Buffer.from(thumbnail!.split(",")[1], "base64"));
+	// Exercise the actual main-process acceptance check against renderer output.
+	expect(await hasFreshProjectThumbnail(file, 0)).toBe(true);
+	const image = page
+		.getByRole("button", { name: "Generated preview", exact: true })
+		.locator("img");
+	await expect(image).toBeVisible();
+	await expect
+		.poll(() => image.evaluate((element: HTMLImageElement) => element.naturalWidth))
+		.toBe(640);
 	await expect(page.getByText(/Project saved/)).toHaveCount(0);
 });