diff --git a/lib/jpegcontent.cpp b/lib/jpegcontent.cpp
--- a/lib/jpegcontent.cpp
+++ b/lib/jpegcontent.cpp
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 #include "iodevicejpegsourcemanager.h"
 #include "exiv2imageloader.h"
 #include "gwenviewconfig.h"
+#include "imageutils.h"
 
 namespace Gwenview
 {
@@ -216,7 +217,7 @@
         d->mFile.close();
         d->mRawData.clear();
     }
-    
+
     d->mFile.setFileName(path);
     if (!d->mFile.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly)) {
         qCritical() << "Could not open '" << path << "' for reading\n";
@@ -572,6 +573,20 @@
         Exiv2::DataBuf thumbnail = d->mExifData.copyThumbnail();
 #endif
         image.loadFromData(thumbnail.pData_, thumbnail.size_);
+
+        Exiv2::ExifKey key("Exif.Canon.ThumbnailImageValidArea");
+        Exiv2::ExifData::iterator it = d->mExifData.findKey(key);
+
+        // ensure ThumbnailImageValidArea actually specifies a rectangle, i.e. there must be 4 coordinates
+        if (it != d->mExifData.end() && it->count() == 4) {
+            QRect validArea(QPoint(it->toLong(0), it->toLong(2)), QPoint(it->toLong(1), it->toLong(3)));
+            image = image.copy(validArea);
+        }
+
+        Orientation o = orientation();
+        if (GwenviewConfig::applyExifOrientation() && o != NORMAL && o != NOT_AVAILABLE) {
+            image = image.transformed(ImageUtils::transformMatrix(o));
+        }
     }
     return image;
 }
@@ -611,7 +626,7 @@
         d->mFile.unmap(mappedFile);
         d->mFile.close();
     }
-    
+
     QFile file(path);
     if (!file.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly)) {
         d->mErrorString = i18nc("@info", "Could not open file for writing.");
diff --git a/lib/thumbnailprovider/thumbnailgenerator.cpp b/lib/thumbnailprovider/thumbnailgenerator.cpp
--- a/lib/thumbnailprovider/thumbnailgenerator.cpp
+++ b/lib/thumbnailprovider/thumbnailgenerator.cpp
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 #include "thumbnailgenerator.h"
 
 // Local
-#include "imageutils.h"
 #include "jpegcontent.h"
 #include "gwenviewconfig.h"
 #include "exiv2imageloader.h"
@@ -61,7 +60,6 @@
 {
     mImage = QImage();
     mNeedCaching = true;
-    Orientation orientation = NORMAL;
     QImage originalImage;
     QSize originalSize;
 
@@ -118,19 +116,11 @@
     }
 
     // If there's jpeg content (from jpg or raw files), try to load an embedded thumbnail, if available.
-    // If applyExifOrientation is not set, don't use the
-    // embedded thumbnail since it might be rotated differently
-    // than the actual image
-    if (!content.rawData().isEmpty() && GwenviewConfig::applyExifOrientation()) {
+    if (!content.rawData().isEmpty()) {
         QImage thumbnail = content.thumbnail();
-        orientation = content.orientation();
 
         if (qMax(thumbnail.width(), thumbnail.height()) >= pixelSize) {
-            mImage = thumbnail;
-            if (orientation != NORMAL && orientation != NOT_AVAILABLE) {
-                QTransform matrix = ImageUtils::transformMatrix(orientation);
-                mImage = mImage.transformed(matrix);
-            }
+            mImage = std::move(thumbnail);
             mOriginalWidth = content.size().width();
             mOriginalHeight = content.size().height();
             return true;