diff --git a/web/apps/photos/src/services/download/clients/photos.ts b/web/apps/photos/src/services/download/clients/photos.ts
index 9ca92ddf53..9f4ecc6079 100644
--- a/web/apps/photos/src/services/download/clients/photos.ts
+++ b/web/apps/photos/src/services/download/clients/photos.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { CustomError } from "@ente/shared/error";
 import HTTPService from "@ente/shared/network/HTTPService";
-import { customAPIOrigin, thumbnailURL } from "@ente/shared/network/api";
+import { customAPIOrigin } from "@ente/shared/network/api";
 import { retryAsyncFunction } from "@ente/shared/utils";
 import { DownloadClient } from "services/download";
 import { EnteFile } from "types/file";
@@ -20,14 +20,26 @@ export class PhotosDownloadClient implements DownloadClient {
         if (!token) throw Error(CustomError.TOKEN_MISSING);
 
         // See: [Note: Passing credentials for self-hosted file fetches]
-        const params = new URLSearchParams({ token });
-        const getThumbnail = () =>
-            HTTPService.get(
-                `${thumbnailURL(file.id)}?${params.toString()}`,
-                undefined,
-                undefined,
-                { responseType: "arraybuffer", timeout: this.timeout },
-            );
+        const getThumbnail = () => {
+            const opts = { responseType: "arraybuffer", timeout: this.timeout };
+            const customOrigin = customAPIOrigin();
+            if (customOrigin) {
+                const params = new URLSearchParams({ token });
+                return HTTPService.get(
+                    `${customOrigin}/files/preview/${file.id}?${params.toString()}`,
+                    undefined,
+                    undefined,
+                    opts,
+                );
+            } else {
+                return HTTPService.get(
+                    `https://thumbnails.ente.io/?fileID=${file.id}`,
+                    undefined,
+                    { "X-Auth-Token": token },
+                    opts,
+                );
+            }
+        };
 
         const resp = await retryAsyncFunction(getThumbnail);
         if (resp.data === undefined) throw Error(CustomError.REQUEST_FAILED);
diff --git a/web/packages/shared/network/api.ts b/web/packages/shared/network/api.ts
index 88afee86de..c13e4da4fa 100644
--- a/web/packages/shared/network/api.ts
+++ b/web/packages/shared/network/api.ts
@@ -26,21 +26,6 @@ export const getEndpoint = () => {
     return "https://api.ente.io";
 };
 
-/**
- * Return the URL that should be used for fetching the thumbnail for a file with
- * the given {@link id}.
- *
- * This defaults to a URL on Ente's own servers, but can be overridden when self
- * hosting by setting the `NEXT_PUBLIC_ENTE_ENDPOINT` environment variable.
- */
-export const thumbnailURL = (id: number) => {
-    const endpoint = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_ENTE_ENDPOINT;
-    if (endpoint) {
-        return `${endpoint}/files/preview/${id}`;
-    }
-    return `https://thumbnails.ente.io/?fileID=${id}`;
-};
-
 export const getPublicCollectionFileURL = (id: number) => {
     const endpoint = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_ENTE_ENDPOINT;
     if (endpoint) {