diff --git a/src/InvidiousAPI.ts b/src/InvidiousAPI.ts
index 70ea031..cbb5b46 100644
--- a/src/InvidiousAPI.ts
+++ b/src/InvidiousAPI.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ export interface SearchResult {
   thumbnailUrl: string;
 }
 
+export interface ThumbnailResponse {
+  data: NodeJS.ReadableStream;
+  contentType: string;
+}
+
 const USE_INVIDIOUS = process.env.USE_INVIDIOUS || true;
 const INVIDIOUS_BASE_URL = process.env.INVIDIOUS_BASE_URL || 'http://invidious.nor';
 const INVIDIOUS_API_ENDPOINT = `${INVIDIOUS_BASE_URL}/api/v1`;
@@ -76,3 +81,22 @@ export const searchInvidious = async (query: string): Promise<SearchResult[]> =>
     throw error;
   }
 }
+
+export const fetchThumbnail = async (thumbnailUrl: string): Promise<ThumbnailResponse> => {
+  let path = thumbnailUrl;
+  if (thumbnailUrl.startsWith('http://') || thumbnailUrl.startsWith('https://')) {
+    const url = new URL(thumbnailUrl);
+    path = url.pathname + url.search;
+  }
+  path = path.replace(/^\/+/, ''); // Strip leading slash
+  
+  const response = await fetch(getInvidiousThumbnailURL(path));
+  if (!response.ok) {
+    throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`);
+  }
+
+  return {
+    data: response.body,
+    contentType: response.headers.get('content-type') || 'image/jpeg'
+  };
+};
diff --git a/src/server.ts b/src/server.ts
index 0163faa..1189a98 100644
--- a/src/server.ts
+++ b/src/server.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import express from "express";
 import expressWs from "express-ws";
 import { MediaPlayer } from "./MediaPlayer";
-import { searchInvidious, getInvidiousThumbnailURL } from "./InvidiousAPI";
+import { searchInvidious, getInvidiousThumbnailURL, fetchThumbnail } from "./InvidiousAPI";
 import fetch from "node-fetch";
 
 const app = express();
@@ -118,17 +118,9 @@ apiRouter.get("/thumbnail", withErrorHandling(async (req, res) => {
     }
 
     try {
-        const thumbnailUrlWithoutLeadingSlash = thumbnailUrl.startsWith('/') ? thumbnailUrl.slice(1) : thumbnailUrl;
-        const response = await fetch(getInvidiousThumbnailURL(thumbnailUrlWithoutLeadingSlash));
-        if (!response.ok) {
-            throw new Error(`HTTP error! status: ${response.status}`);
-        }
-
-        // Forward the content type header
-        res.set('Content-Type', response.headers.get('content-type') || 'image/jpeg');
-        
-        // Pipe the thumbnail data directly to the response
-        response.body.pipe(res);
+        const { data, contentType } = await fetchThumbnail(thumbnailUrl);
+        res.set('Content-Type', contentType);
+        data.pipe(res);
     } catch (error) {
         console.error('Failed to proxy thumbnail:', error);
         res.status(500)