diff --git a/web-player/src/lib/components/ui/Cover.svelte b/web-player/src/lib/components/ui/Cover.svelte
index f32cfd5..8f799d6 100644
--- a/web-player/src/lib/components/ui/Cover.svelte
+++ b/web-player/src/lib/components/ui/Cover.svelte
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <script lang="ts">
 	import type { Snippet } from 'svelte';
 	import { gradientForHue } from '$lib/theme/color';
+	import { thumbnailSrc } from '$lib/thumbnails';
 
 	interface Props {
 		trackId: string | number;
@@ -25,7 +26,9 @@
 	let failed = $state(false);
 	let loaded = $state(false);
 
-	const imageSrc = $derived(src ?? `/api/tracks/${trackId}/cover?size=${size}`);
+	const imageSrc = $derived(
+		src ? (thumbnailSrc(src, size) ?? src) : `/api/tracks/${trackId}/cover?size=${size}`
+	);
 
 	$effect(() => {
 		imageSrc;
@@ -43,6 +46,8 @@
 			src={imageSrc}
 			{alt}
 			loading="lazy"
+			decoding="async"
+			fetchpriority="low"
 			onload={() => (loaded = true)}
 			onerror={() => (failed = true)}
 			class="h-full w-full object-cover"
diff --git a/web-player/src/lib/player/player.svelte.ts b/web-player/src/lib/player/player.svelte.ts
index 73bee90..ac44251 100644
--- a/web-player/src/lib/player/player.svelte.ts
+++ b/web-player/src/lib/player/player.svelte.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { browser } from '$app/environment';
 import { HUES, accentForHue, gradientForHue, hueFor } from '$lib/theme/color';
 import { extractAccent, type Accent } from '$lib/theme/palette';
+import { thumbnailSrc } from '$lib/thumbnails';
 
 export type TrackSourceKind = 'local' | 'youtube';
 
@@ -190,7 +191,8 @@ class PlayerState {
 			navigator.mediaSession.metadata = null;
 			return;
 		}
-		const artwork = track.coverUrl ?? `/api/tracks/${track.id}/cover?size=small`;
+		const artwork =
+			thumbnailSrc(track.coverUrl, 'medium') ?? `/api/tracks/${track.id}/cover?size=small`;
 		navigator.mediaSession.metadata = new MediaMetadata({
 			title: track.title,
 			artist: track.artist,
@@ -242,7 +244,9 @@ class PlayerState {
 			this.gradientColor = cached.gradient;
 			return;
 		}
-		const result = await extractAccent(coverUrl ?? `/api/tracks/${id}/cover?size=small`);
+		const result = await extractAccent(
+			thumbnailSrc(coverUrl, 'small') ?? `/api/tracks/${id}/cover?size=small`
+		);
 		if (this.currentId !== id) return;
 		if (result) {
 			this.#accentCache.set(key, result);
diff --git a/web-player/src/lib/server/config.ts b/web-player/src/lib/server/config.ts
index 75863b2..dcd3a4d 100644
--- a/web-player/src/lib/server/config.ts
+++ b/web-player/src/lib/server/config.ts
@@ -51,3 +51,30 @@ export const apiConfig = {
 		return (env.API_BASE_URL ?? '').replace(/\/+$/, '');
 	}
 };
+
+export const thumbnailConfig = {
+	get maxAgeSeconds() {
+		return positiveInt(env.THUMBNAIL_CACHE_MAX_AGE_SECONDS, 30 * DAY_SECONDS);
+	},
+	get failureCacheSeconds() {
+		return positiveInt(env.THUMBNAIL_FAILURE_CACHE_SECONDS, 300);
+	},
+	get memoryCacheBytes() {
+		return positiveInt(env.THUMBNAIL_CACHE_BYTES, 128 * 1024 * 1024);
+	},
+	get maxConcurrentFetches() {
+		return positiveInt(env.THUMBNAIL_MAX_CONCURRENT_FETCHES, 4);
+	},
+	get fetchTimeoutMs() {
+		return positiveInt(env.THUMBNAIL_FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS, 8000);
+	},
+	get cooldownSeconds() {
+		return positiveInt(env.THUMBNAIL_COOLDOWN_SECONDS, 30);
+	},
+	get maxCooldownSeconds() {
+		return positiveInt(env.THUMBNAIL_MAX_COOLDOWN_SECONDS, 300);
+	},
+	get maxSize() {
+		return positiveInt(env.THUMBNAIL_MAX_SIZE, 720);
+	}
+};
diff --git a/web-player/src/lib/server/thumbnails.ts b/web-player/src/lib/server/thumbnails.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a840feb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web-player/src/lib/server/thumbnails.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+import { thumbnailConfig } from '$lib/server/config';
+
+const ALLOWED_HOST_SUFFIXES = ['.googleusercontent.com', '.ytimg.com', '.ggpht.com'];
+
+export interface ThumbnailImage {
+	body: ArrayBuffer;
+	contentType: string;
+	etag: string;
+}
+
+interface CacheEntry {
+	image: ThumbnailImage | null;
+	expiresAt: number;
+}
+
+const cache = new Map<string, CacheEntry>();
+const inFlight = new Map<string, Promise<ThumbnailImage | null>>();
+
+let cachedBytes = 0;
+let cooldownUntil = 0;
+let active = 0;
+const waiting: (() => void)[] = [];
+
+export function parseThumbnailUrl(rawUrl: string): URL | null {
+	let url: URL;
+	try {
+		url = new URL(rawUrl);
+	} catch {
+		return null;
+	}
+
+	if (url.protocol !== 'https:') return null;
+	if (!ALLOWED_HOST_SUFFIXES.some((suffix) => url.hostname.endsWith(suffix))) return null;
+
+	return url;
+}
+
+export function resizeThumbnailUrl(url: URL, size: number): string {
+	if (url.hostname.endsWith('.googleusercontent.com')) {
+		const raw = url.toString();
+		const separator = raw.lastIndexOf('=');
+		const base =
+			separator > 0 && /^[wsh]\d/.test(raw.slice(separator + 1)) ? raw.slice(0, separator) : raw;
+		return `${base}=w${size}-h${size}-l90-rj`;
+	}
+
+	if (url.hostname.endsWith('.ytimg.com')) {
+		const path = url.origin + url.pathname;
+		const lastSlash = path.lastIndexOf('/');
+		if (lastSlash < 0) return path;
+		return `${path.slice(0, lastSlash)}/${ytImgFileName(size)}`;
+	}
+
+	return url.toString();
+}
+
+function ytImgFileName(size: number): string {
+	if (size <= 120) return 'default.jpg';
+	if (size <= 320) return 'mqdefault.jpg';
+	if (size <= 480) return 'hqdefault.jpg';
+	return 'maxresdefault.jpg';
+}
+
+export async function loadThumbnail(url: URL, size: number): Promise<ThumbnailImage | null> {
+	const target = resizeThumbnailUrl(url, size);
+
+	const cached = cache.get(target);
+	if (cached && cached.expiresAt > Date.now()) {
+		touch(target, cached);
+		return cached.image;
+	}
+
+	const pending = inFlight.get(target);
+	if (pending) return pending;
+
+	const request = fetchThumbnail(target).finally(() => inFlight.delete(target));
+	inFlight.set(target, request);
+	return request;
+}
+
+async function fetchThumbnail(target: string): Promise<ThumbnailImage | null> {
+	if (Date.now() < cooldownUntil) return null;
+
+	await acquire();
+	try {
+		const response = await fetch(target, {
+			headers: { Accept: 'image/webp,image/avif,image/*;q=0.8' },
+			signal: AbortSignal.timeout(thumbnailConfig.fetchTimeoutMs)
+		});
+
+		if (response.status === 429 || response.status === 503) {
+			cooldownUntil = Date.now() + retryAfterMs(response);
+			store(target, null, thumbnailConfig.failureCacheSeconds);
+			return null;
+		}
+
+		if (!response.ok) {
+			store(target, null, thumbnailConfig.failureCacheSeconds);
+			return null;
+		}
+
+		const buffer = await response.arrayBuffer();
+		const image: ThumbnailImage = {
+			body: buffer,
+			contentType: response.headers.get('content-type') ?? 'image/jpeg',
+			etag: `W/"${buffer.byteLength.toString(16)}-${hash(target).toString(16)}"`
+		};
+
+		store(target, image, thumbnailConfig.maxAgeSeconds);
+		return image;
+	} catch {
+		store(target, null, thumbnailConfig.failureCacheSeconds);
+		return null;
+	} finally {
+		release();
+	}
+}
+
+function retryAfterMs(response: Response): number {
+	const header = Number(response.headers.get('retry-after'));
+	const seconds = Number.isFinite(header) && header > 0 ? header : thumbnailConfig.cooldownSeconds;
+	return Math.min(seconds, thumbnailConfig.maxCooldownSeconds) * 1000;
+}
+
+function store(target: string, image: ThumbnailImage | null, ttlSeconds: number) {
+	const previous = cache.get(target);
+	if (previous?.image) cachedBytes -= previous.image.body.byteLength;
+
+	cache.delete(target);
+	cache.set(target, { image, expiresAt: Date.now() + ttlSeconds * 1000 });
+	if (image) cachedBytes += image.body.byteLength;
+
+	evict();
+}
+
+function touch(target: string, entry: CacheEntry) {
+	cache.delete(target);
+	cache.set(target, entry);
+}
+
+function evict() {
+	while (cachedBytes > thumbnailConfig.memoryCacheBytes) {
+		const oldest = cache.keys().next();
+		if (oldest.done) return;
+
+		const entry = cache.get(oldest.value);
+		if (entry?.image) cachedBytes -= entry.image.body.byteLength;
+		cache.delete(oldest.value);
+	}
+}
+
+function acquire(): Promise<void> {
+	if (active < thumbnailConfig.maxConcurrentFetches) {
+		active++;
+		return Promise.resolve();
+	}
+	return new Promise((resolve) => waiting.push(resolve));
+}
+
+function release() {
+	const next = waiting.shift();
+	if (next) next();
+	else active--;
+}
+
+function hash(value: string): number {
+	let result = 2166136261;
+	for (let i = 0; i < value.length; i++) {
+		result ^= value.charCodeAt(i);
+		result = Math.imul(result, 16777619);
+	}
+	return result >>> 0;
+}
diff --git a/web-player/src/lib/thumbnails.ts b/web-player/src/lib/thumbnails.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee08d9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web-player/src/lib/thumbnails.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+export const THUMBNAIL_SIZES = {
+	small: 96,
+	medium: 160,
+	large: 320
+} as const;
+
+export type ThumbnailSize = keyof typeof THUMBNAIL_SIZES;
+
+const PROXY_PATH = '/api/youtube/thumbnail';
+
+export function thumbnailSrc(
+	url: string | undefined,
+	size: ThumbnailSize = 'large'
+): string | undefined {
+	if (!url) return undefined;
+	if (!url.startsWith('http')) return url;
+
+	return `${PROXY_PATH}?u=${encodeURIComponent(url)}&size=${THUMBNAIL_SIZES[size]}`;
+}
diff --git a/web-player/src/routes/api/youtube/thumbnail/+server.ts b/web-player/src/routes/api/youtube/thumbnail/+server.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..afcd28b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web-player/src/routes/api/youtube/thumbnail/+server.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import type { RequestHandler } from './$types';
+import { error } from '@sveltejs/kit';
+import { loadThumbnail, parseThumbnailUrl } from '$lib/server/thumbnails';
+import { thumbnailConfig } from '$lib/server/config';
+import { THUMBNAIL_SIZES } from '$lib/thumbnails';
+
+export const GET: RequestHandler = async ({ url, request, setHeaders }) => {
+	const source = parseThumbnailUrl(url.searchParams.get('u') ?? '');
+	if (!source) error(400, 'Miniatura no permitida.');
+
+	const requested = Number(url.searchParams.get('size'));
+	const size =
+		Number.isInteger(requested) && requested > 0
+			? Math.min(requested, thumbnailConfig.maxSize)
+			: THUMBNAIL_SIZES.large;
+
+	const image = await loadThumbnail(source, size);
+	if (!image) error(404, 'Miniatura no disponible.');
+
+	setHeaders({
+		'Cache-Control': `public, max-age=${thumbnailConfig.maxAgeSeconds}, immutable`,
+		'Content-Type': image.contentType,
+		ETag: image.etag
+	});
+
+	if (request.headers.get('if-none-match') === image.etag) {
+		return new Response(null, { status: 304 });
+	}
+
+	return new Response(image.body);
+};