diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 5485ff9..9a698cc 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ RUN bun run build
 FROM oven/bun:1 AS run
 WORKDIR /app
 ENV NODE_ENV=production
+# ffmpeg generates poster thumbnails for uploaded reels (lib/media.ts).
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ffmpeg \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 COPY --from=build /app ./
 EXPOSE 8080
 CMD ["bun", "run", "start"]
diff --git a/app/api/media/[id]/route.ts b/app/api/media/[id]/route.ts
index 5e09d72..9f38939 100644
--- a/app/api/media/[id]/route.ts
+++ b/app/api/media/[id]/route.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { NextRequest, NextResponse } from "next/server";
 import { Readable } from "node:stream";
 import { resolveAccountId, bad, unauthorized } from "@/lib/api";
 import { accountOwnsDomain, getMedia, deleteMedia } from "@/lib/db";
-import { mediaSize, mediaStream, deleteMediaFile } from "@/lib/media";
+import { mediaSize, mediaStream, deleteMediaFile, thumbFilename } from "@/lib/media";
 
 export const runtime = "nodejs";
 export const dynamic = "force-dynamic";
@@ -59,6 +59,9 @@ export async function DELETE(req: NextRequest, ctx: { params: Promise<{ id: stri
   if (!(await accountOwnsDomain(accountId, m.dn))) return bad("You don't own that domain.", 403);
 
   const removed = await deleteMedia(id);
-  if (removed) deleteMediaFile(removed.filename);
+  if (removed) {
+    deleteMediaFile(removed.filename);
+    deleteMediaFile(thumbFilename(removed.filename)); // drop its poster too
+  }
   return NextResponse.json({ ok: true });
 }
diff --git a/app/api/media/[id]/thumb/route.ts b/app/api/media/[id]/thumb/route.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..603ee0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/api/media/[id]/thumb/route.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import { NextRequest, NextResponse } from "next/server";
+import { Readable } from "node:stream";
+import { getMedia } from "@/lib/db";
+import { mediaSize, mediaStream, thumbFilename } from "@/lib/media";
+
+export const runtime = "nodejs";
+export const dynamic = "force-dynamic";
+
+// Serve the poster thumbnail (<name>_thumb.png) generated on upload.
+export async function GET(_req: NextRequest, ctx: { params: Promise<{ id: string }> }) {
+  const { id } = await ctx.params;
+  const m = await getMedia(id);
+  if (!m) return NextResponse.json({ error: "Not found" }, { status: 404 });
+
+  const tf = thumbFilename(m.filename);
+  const size = mediaSize(tf);
+  if (size == null) return NextResponse.json({ error: "No thumbnail" }, { status: 404 });
+
+  const stream = Readable.toWeb(mediaStream(tf)) as ReadableStream;
+  return new NextResponse(stream, {
+    status: 200,
+    headers: {
+      "content-type": "image/png",
+      "content-length": String(size),
+      "cache-control": "public, max-age=31536000, immutable",
+    },
+  });
+}
diff --git a/app/api/media/route.ts b/app/api/media/route.ts
index 251dba7..4e515c9 100644
--- a/app/api/media/route.ts
+++ b/app/api/media/route.ts
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@ import { randomBytes } from "node:crypto";
 import { resolveAccountId, bad, unauthorized } from "@/lib/api";
 import { accountOwnsDomain, addMedia, listMedia, type Media } from "@/lib/db";
 import { safeDomain } from "@/lib/config";
-import { writeMedia, ALLOWED_TYPES, MAX_UPLOAD_BYTES } from "@/lib/media";
+import { writeMedia, generateThumbnail, hasThumb, ALLOWED_TYPES, MAX_UPLOAD_BYTES } from "@/lib/media";
 
 export const runtime = "nodejs";
 export const dynamic = "force-dynamic";
 
-/** Public view of a reel — the streaming URL + safe metadata. */
+/** Public view of a reel — the streaming URL, poster thumbnail + safe metadata. */
 function mediaView(m: Media) {
   return {
     id: m.id,
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ function mediaView(m: Media) {
     size: m.size,
     created_at: m.created_at,
     url: `/api/media/${m.id}`,
+    thumb: hasThumb(m.filename) ? `/api/media/${m.id}/thumb` : null,
   };
 }
 
@@ -57,6 +58,8 @@ export async function POST(req: NextRequest) {
   const id = randomBytes(16).toString("hex");
   const filename = `${id}${ext}`;
   await writeMedia(filename, bytes);
+  // Best-effort poster frame — never fail the upload if ffmpeg is unavailable.
+  try { await generateThumbnail(filename); } catch { /* no poster, no problem */ }
 
   const title = String(form.get("title") || "").trim().slice(0, 120) || file.name;
   const media = await addMedia({
diff --git a/app/dashboard/page.tsx b/app/dashboard/page.tsx
index 32be839..9c93969 100644
--- a/app/dashboard/page.tsx
+++ b/app/dashboard/page.tsx
@@ -559,7 +559,7 @@ function VideosPanel({ onError, onOk }: { onError: (m: string) => void; onOk: (m
             <div className="video-grid">
               {reels.map((m) => (
                 <figure key={m.id} className="video-cell">
-                  <video src={m.url} controls preload="metadata" playsInline />
+                  <video src={m.url} poster={m.thumb || undefined} controls preload="metadata" playsInline />
                   <figcaption className="row" style={{ justifyContent: "space-between", alignItems: "center" }}>
                     <span>{m.title}</span>
                     <button className="btn2 ghost" disabled={busy} onClick={() => del(m.id)}>Delete</button>
diff --git a/app/videos/page.tsx b/app/videos/page.tsx
index aef0d7f..96c6049 100644
--- a/app/videos/page.tsx
+++ b/app/videos/page.tsx
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import fs from "node:fs";
 import path from "node:path";
 import type { Metadata } from "next";
 import { listMedia } from "@/lib/db";
+import { hasThumb } from "@/lib/media";
 
 export const dynamic = "force-dynamic";
 
@@ -10,21 +11,25 @@ export const metadata: Metadata = {
   description: "moshcoding mp4 reels & clips. Code hard, mosh harder — watch the pit.",
 };
 
-type Reel = { src: string; title: string; portrait: boolean };
+type Reel = { src: string; title: string; portrait: boolean; poster?: string };
 
-/** Built-in brand reels shipped in public/videos. */
+/** Built-in brand reels shipped in public/videos (poster = <name>_thumb.png if present). */
 function builtinReels(): Reel[] {
   try {
     const dir = path.join(process.cwd(), "public", "videos");
-    return fs
-      .readdirSync(dir)
+    const files = fs.readdirSync(dir);
+    return files
       .filter((f) => f.toLowerCase().endsWith(".mp4"))
       .sort()
-      .map((f) => ({
-        src: `/videos/${f}`,
-        title: f.replace(/\.mp4$/i, "").replace(/-/g, " ").trim(),
-        portrait: /9x16/i.test(f),
-      }));
+      .map((f) => {
+        const thumb = f.replace(/\.mp4$/i, "_thumb.png");
+        return {
+          src: `/videos/${f}`,
+          title: f.replace(/\.mp4$/i, "").replace(/-/g, " ").trim(),
+          portrait: /9x16/i.test(f),
+          poster: files.includes(thumb) ? `/videos/${thumb}` : undefined,
+        };
+      });
   } catch {
     return [];
   }
@@ -38,6 +43,7 @@ async function uploadedReels(): Promise<Reel[]> {
       src: `/api/media/${m.id}`,
       title: m.title || m.orig_name || "reel",
       portrait: false,
+      poster: hasThumb(m.filename) ? `/api/media/${m.id}/thumb` : undefined,
     }));
   } catch {
     return [];
@@ -64,7 +70,7 @@ export default async function VideosPage() {
         <div className="video-grid">
           {reels.map((r) => (
             <figure key={r.src} className={`video-cell${r.portrait ? " portrait" : ""}`}>
-              <video src={r.src} controls preload="metadata" playsInline />
+              <video src={r.src} poster={r.poster} controls preload="metadata" playsInline />
               <figcaption>{r.title}</figcaption>
             </figure>
           ))}
diff --git a/lib/media.ts b/lib/media.ts
index 433dd29..0985983 100644
--- a/lib/media.ts
+++ b/lib/media.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 // Mount a volume at DATA_DIR in production or uploads won't survive a redeploy.
 import fs from "node:fs";
 import path from "node:path";
+import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
 
 const DATA_DIR = process.env.DATA_DIR || path.join(process.cwd(), ".data");
 const MEDIA_DIR = path.join(DATA_DIR, "media");
@@ -53,3 +54,47 @@ export function deleteMediaFile(filename: string): void {
     /* already gone — fine */
   }
 }
+
+// ---- poster thumbnails (ffmpeg) -------------------------------------------
+
+/** The thumbnail name for a video file: `<name>.mp4` → `<name>_thumb.png`. */
+export function thumbFilename(videoFilename: string): string {
+  const base = path.basename(videoFilename).replace(/\.[^.]+$/, "");
+  return `${base}_thumb.png`;
+}
+
+/** True once a poster thumbnail exists on disk for this video. */
+export function hasThumb(videoFilename: string): boolean {
+  return mediaSize(thumbFilename(videoFilename)) != null;
+}
+
+function runFfmpeg(args: string[]): Promise<boolean> {
+  return new Promise((resolve) => {
+    let proc;
+    try {
+      proc = spawn(process.env.FFMPEG_PATH || "ffmpeg", args, { stdio: "ignore" });
+    } catch {
+      resolve(false);
+      return;
+    }
+    proc.on("error", () => resolve(false));
+    proc.on("close", (code) => resolve(code === 0));
+  });
+}
+
+/**
+ * Extracts a poster frame from an uploaded video into `<name>_thumb.png`
+ * (640px wide, aspect preserved) using ffmpeg. Best-effort: returns false if
+ * ffmpeg is missing or the clip can't be decoded — the caller must not fail the
+ * upload on a false. Grabs a frame ~1s in, falling back to the first frame for
+ * very short clips.
+ */
+export async function generateThumbnail(videoFilename: string): Promise<boolean> {
+  ensureDir();
+  const input = mediaPath(videoFilename);
+  const output = mediaPath(thumbFilename(videoFilename));
+  const frameAt = (t: string) =>
+    ["-y", "-ss", t, "-i", input, "-frames:v", "1", "-vf", "scale=640:-2", output];
+  if ((await runFfmpeg(frameAt("1"))) && fs.existsSync(output)) return true;
+  return (await runFfmpeg(frameAt("0"))) && fs.existsSync(output);
+}
diff --git a/public/videos/moshcoding-reel-16x9_thumb.png b/public/videos/moshcoding-reel-16x9_thumb.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2427a5e
Binary files /dev/null and b/public/videos/moshcoding-reel-16x9_thumb.png differ
diff --git a/public/videos/moshcoding-reel-9x16_thumb.png b/public/videos/moshcoding-reel-9x16_thumb.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9876aba
Binary files /dev/null and b/public/videos/moshcoding-reel-9x16_thumb.png differ