diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
     Solid
     Bookmarks
     GuiAddons
+    SyntaxHighlighting
 )
 # As this is the check used for linkage, only require it in the same location...
 if (UNIX)
diff --git a/thumbnail/CMakeLists.txt b/thumbnail/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/thumbnail/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/thumbnail/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@
 target_link_libraries(textthumbnail
     Qt5::Gui
     KF5::KIOWidgets
+    KF5::SyntaxHighlighting
 )
 
 install(TARGETS textthumbnail DESTINATION ${KDE_INSTALL_PLUGINDIR})
diff --git a/thumbnail/textcreator.h b/thumbnail/textcreator.h
--- a/thumbnail/textcreator.h
+++ b/thumbnail/textcreator.h
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 
 #include <QPixmap>
 #include <kio/thumbcreator.h>
+#include <KSyntaxHighlighting/Repository>
 
 class TextCreator : public ThumbCreator
 {
@@ -35,6 +36,8 @@
     char *m_data;
     int m_dataSize;
     QPixmap m_pixmap;
+
+    KSyntaxHighlighting::Repository m_highlightingRepository;
 };
 
 #endif
diff --git a/thumbnail/textcreator.cpp b/thumbnail/textcreator.cpp
--- a/thumbnail/textcreator.cpp
+++ b/thumbnail/textcreator.cpp
@@ -27,7 +27,11 @@
 #include <QPainter>
 #include <QPalette>
 #include <QTextCodec>
+#include <QTextDocument>
 
+#include <KSyntaxHighlighting/SyntaxHighlighter>
+#include <KSyntaxHighlighting/Theme>
+#include <KSyntaxHighlighting/Definition>
 #include <KDesktopFile>
 
 // TODO Fix or remove kencodingprober code
@@ -96,9 +100,8 @@
     QFontMetrics fm( font );
 
     // calculate a better border so that the text is centered
-    int canvasWidth  = pixmapSize.width()  - 2*xborder;
-    int canvasHeight = pixmapSize.height() -  2*yborder;
-    int numLines = (int) ( canvasHeight / fm.height() );
+    const QSizeF canvasSize(pixmapSize.width() - 2 * xborder, pixmapSize.height() - 2 * yborder);
+    const int numLines = (int) (canvasSize.height() / fm.height());
 
     // assumes an average line length of <= 120 chars
     const int bytesToRead = 120 * numLines;
@@ -136,26 +139,40 @@
 #if 0
             QPalette palette;
             QColor bgColor = palette.color( QPalette::Base );
-            QColor fgColor = palette.color( QPalette::Text );
             if ( qGray( bgColor.rgb() ) > qGray( fgColor.rgb() ) ) {
                 bgColor = bgColor.darker( 103 );
             } else {
                 bgColor = bgColor.lighter( 103 );
             }
 #else
             QColor bgColor = QColor ( 245, 245, 245 ); // light-grey background
-            QColor fgColor = Qt::black;
 #endif
             m_pixmap.fill( bgColor );
 
             QPainter painter( &m_pixmap );
-            painter.setFont( font );
-            painter.setPen( fgColor );
+
+            QTextDocument textDocument(text);
+
+            // QTextDocument only supports one margin value for all borders,
+            // so we do a page-in-page behind its back, and do our own borders
+            textDocument.setDocumentMargin(0);
+            textDocument.setPageSize(canvasSize);
+            textDocument.setDefaultFont(font);
 
             QTextOption textOption( Qt::AlignTop | Qt::AlignLeft );
             textOption.setTabStop( 8 * painter.fontMetrics().width( ' ' ) );
             textOption.setWrapMode( QTextOption::WrapAtWordBoundaryOrAnywhere );
-            painter.drawText( QRect( xborder, yborder, canvasWidth, canvasHeight ), text, textOption );
+            textDocument.setDefaultTextOption(textOption);
+
+            KSyntaxHighlighting::SyntaxHighlighter syntaxHighlighter(&textDocument);
+            syntaxHighlighter.setDefinition(m_highlightingRepository.definitionForFileName(path));
+            const auto highlightingTheme = m_highlightingRepository.defaultTheme(KSyntaxHighlighting::Repository::LightTheme);
+            syntaxHighlighter.setTheme(highlightingTheme);
+
+            // draw page-in-page, with clipping as needed
+            painter.translate(xborder, yborder);
+            textDocument.drawContents(&painter, QRectF(QPointF(0, 0), canvasSize));
+
             painter.end();
 
             img = m_pixmap.toImage();