diff --git a/app/Jobs/ImageOptimizePipeline/ImageResize.php b/app/Jobs/ImageOptimizePipeline/ImageResize.php
index 7802fa57b..a0088c642 100644
--- a/app/Jobs/ImageOptimizePipeline/ImageResize.php
+++ b/app/Jobs/ImageOptimizePipeline/ImageResize.php
@@ -81,10 +81,8 @@ class ImageResize implements ShouldQueue
         try {
             $img = new Image;
             $img->resizeImage($media);
-        } catch (\Exception $e) {
-            if (config('app.dev_log')) {
-                Log::error('Image resize failed: '.$e->getMessage());
-            }
+        } catch (\Throwable $e) {
+            Log::error("ImageResize: media {$media->id} was not resized [".$e::class.']: '.$e->getMessage());
         }
 
         ImageThumbnail::dispatch($media)->onQueue('mmo');
diff --git a/app/Jobs/ImageOptimizePipeline/ImageThumbnail.php b/app/Jobs/ImageOptimizePipeline/ImageThumbnail.php
index 12b5efe76..7d0f2f1c9 100644
--- a/app/Jobs/ImageOptimizePipeline/ImageThumbnail.php
+++ b/app/Jobs/ImageOptimizePipeline/ImageThumbnail.php
@@ -64,12 +64,11 @@ class ImageThumbnail implements ShouldQueue
         try {
             $img = new Image;
             $img->resizeThumbnail($media);
-        } catch (\Exception $e) {
-            if (config('app.dev_log')) {
-                Log::error('Thumbnail generation failed: '.$e->getMessage());
-            }
-
-            return;
+        } catch (\Throwable $e) {
+            // Keep going: returning here left the media without processed_at and
+            // never dispatched ImageUpdate, so it never reached cloud storage and
+            // its status never federated.
+            Log::error("ImageThumbnail: media {$media->id} has no thumbnail [".$e::class.']: '.$e->getMessage());
         }
 
         $media->processed_at = now();
diff --git a/app/Jobs/ImageOptimizePipeline/ImageUpdate.php b/app/Jobs/ImageOptimizePipeline/ImageUpdate.php
index 589502f34..44116bcdb 100644
--- a/app/Jobs/ImageOptimizePipeline/ImageUpdate.php
+++ b/app/Jobs/ImageOptimizePipeline/ImageUpdate.php
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ class ImageUpdate implements ShouldQueue
 
     protected $protectedMimes = [
         'image/jpeg',
+        'image/jpg',
         'image/png',
         'image/webp',
         'image/avif',
diff --git a/app/Util/Media/Image.php b/app/Util/Media/Image.php
index 8cc6dbc8d..6e412bef0 100644
--- a/app/Util/Media/Image.php
+++ b/app/Util/Media/Image.php
@@ -306,10 +306,18 @@ class Image
                 StatusService::del($media->status_id);
             }
 
-        } catch (\Exception $e) {
-            if (config('app.dev_log')) {
-                Log::info('MediaResizeException: '.$e->getMessage().' | Could not process media id: '.$media->id);
-            }
+        } catch (\Throwable $e) {
+            // Always logged, never gated behind dev_log: when this fails the
+            // untouched original upload keeps being served at full size, and
+            // nothing else in the app surfaces that.
+            Log::error(sprintf(
+                'MediaResizeException: could not %s media id %s (%s) [%s]: %s',
+                $thumbnail ? 'thumbnail' : 'resize',
+                $media->id,
+                $media->mime,
+                $e::class,
+                $e->getMessage()
+            ));
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/app/Util/Media/ImageDriverManager.php b/app/Util/Media/ImageDriverManager.php
index d94b590d2..0e8378d3a 100644
--- a/app/Util/Media/ImageDriverManager.php
+++ b/app/Util/Media/ImageDriverManager.php
@@ -2,11 +2,22 @@
 
 namespace App\Util\Media;
 
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Log;
 use Intervention\Image\Drivers\Gd\Driver;
 use Intervention\Image\ImageManager;
+use Throwable;
 
 class ImageDriverManager
 {
+    /**
+     * Configured driver name => driver name that passed its health check in
+     * this process. Driver construction runs a health check (the vips driver
+     * boots FFI + libvips), so the result is memoized per worker.
+     *
+     * @var array<string, string>
+     */
+    protected static array $resolved = [];
+
     /**
      * Get the appropriate image driver class based on configuration.
      *
@@ -23,17 +34,93 @@ class ImageDriverManager
     }
 
     /**
-     * Create a new ImageManager instance with the configured driver.
+     * Create a new ImageManager instance.
+     *
+     * With an explicit $driver the call is strict and throws when that driver
+     * is unavailable. Without one, the configured driver is tried first and,
+     * if its runtime is missing (no libvips, FFI disabled, no ext-imagick...),
+     * the next available driver is used and the failure is logged. A host that
+     * cannot load the configured driver must degrade to a slower driver, not
+     * silently stop resizing uploads.
      *
      * @param  array  $options  Additional options for ImageManager
      * @param  string|null  $driver  Driver name to use instead of the configured one
      */
     public static function createImageManager(array $options = [], ?string $driver = null): ImageManager
     {
-        $configOptions = config('image.options', []);
+        $options = array_merge(config('image.options', []), $options);
+
+        if ($driver !== null) {
+            return self::build($driver, $options);
+        }
+
+        $configured = (string) config('image.driver', 'vips');
+
+        if (isset(self::$resolved[$configured])) {
+            return self::build(self::$resolved[$configured], $options);
+        }
+
+        $failure = null;
 
-        $options = array_merge($configOptions, $options);
+        foreach (self::candidateDrivers($configured) as $candidate) {
+            try {
+                $manager = self::build($candidate, $options);
+            } catch (Throwable $e) {
+                $failure ??= $e;
 
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            self::$resolved[$configured] = $candidate;
+
+            if ($candidate !== $configured && $failure) {
+                Log::error(sprintf(
+                    'Image driver "%s" is unavailable, falling back to "%s". Uploads are still processed, but fix the driver or set IMAGE_DRIVER=%s. Reason: %s',
+                    $configured,
+                    $candidate,
+                    $candidate,
+                    self::describe($failure)
+                ));
+            }
+
+            return $manager;
+        }
+
+        throw $failure;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Drivers to try, in order: the configured one, then whatever else this
+     * PHP build can actually run.
+     *
+     * @return array<int, string>
+     */
+    public static function candidateDrivers(?string $configured = null): array
+    {
+        $drivers = [$configured ?? (string) config('image.driver', 'vips')];
+
+        if (extension_loaded('imagick')) {
+            $drivers[] = 'imagick';
+        }
+
+        if (extension_loaded('gd')) {
+            $drivers[] = 'gd';
+        }
+
+        return array_values(array_unique($drivers));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Forget memoized driver resolution (tests, or after fixing a driver
+     * without restarting the worker).
+     */
+    public static function flush(): void
+    {
+        self::$resolved = [];
+    }
+
+    protected static function build(string $driver, array $options): ImageManager
+    {
         return new ImageManager(
             self::getDriverClass($driver),
             autoOrientation: (bool) ($options['autoOrientation'] ?? true),
@@ -42,4 +129,15 @@ class ImageDriverManager
             strip: (bool) ($options['strip'] ?? true)
         );
     }
+
+    protected static function describe(Throwable $e): string
+    {
+        $messages = [];
+
+        for ($current = $e; $current !== null; $current = $current->getPrevious()) {
+            $messages[] = class_basename($current).': '.$current->getMessage();
+        }
+
+        return implode(' <- ', $messages);
+    }
 }