diff --git a/ghost/core/core/server/api/endpoints/images.js b/ghost/core/core/server/api/endpoints/images.js
index e2c26718587a..140e88bd1ec8 100644
--- a/ghost/core/core/server/api/endpoints/images.js
+++ b/ghost/core/core/server/api/endpoints/images.js
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 /* eslint-disable ghost/ghost-custom/max-api-complexity */
-const storage = require('../../adapters/storage');
+const path = require('path');
+const errors = require('@tryghost/errors');
 const imageTransform = require('@tryghost/image-transform');
+
+const storage = require('../../adapters/storage');
 const config = require('../../../shared/config');
-const path = require('path');
 
 module.exports = {
     docName: 'images',
@@ -36,8 +38,12 @@ module.exports = {
                 try {
                     await imageTransform.resizeFromPath(options);
                 } catch (err) {
-                    // If the image processing fails, we just want to store the original image
-                    return store.save(frame.file);
+                    // If the image processing fails, we don't want to store the image because it's corrupted/invalid
+                    throw new errors.BadRequestError({
+                        message: 'Image processing failed',
+                        context: err.message,
+                        help: 'Please verify that the image is valid'
+                    });
                 }
 
                 // Store the processed/optimized image
diff --git a/ghost/core/test/e2e-api/admin/__snapshots__/images.test.js.snap b/ghost/core/test/e2e-api/admin/__snapshots__/images.test.js.snap
index 2bc56cbaf001..a48fd4a2dbd2 100644
--- a/ghost/core/test/e2e-api/admin/__snapshots__/images.test.js.snap
+++ b/ghost/core/test/e2e-api/admin/__snapshots__/images.test.js.snap
@@ -72,6 +72,24 @@ Object {
 }
 `;
 
+exports[`Images API Does not return HTTP 500 when image processing fails 1: [body] 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "errors": Array [
+    Object {
+      "code": null,
+      "context": "Image processing failed Image processing failed",
+      "details": null,
+      "ghostErrorCode": null,
+      "help": "Please verify that the image is valid",
+      "id": StringMatching /\\[a-f0-9\\]\\{8\\}-\\[a-f0-9\\]\\{4\\}-\\[a-f0-9\\]\\{4\\}-\\[a-f0-9\\]\\{4\\}-\\[a-f0-9\\]\\{12\\}/,
+      "message": "Request not understood error, cannot upload image.",
+      "property": null,
+      "type": "BadRequestError",
+    },
+  ],
+}
+`;
+
 exports[`Images API Will error when filename is too long 1: [body] 1`] = `
 Object {
   "errors": Array [
diff --git a/ghost/core/test/e2e-api/admin/images.test.js b/ghost/core/test/e2e-api/admin/images.test.js
index e5f08322de7d..3baf808a59df 100644
--- a/ghost/core/test/e2e-api/admin/images.test.js
+++ b/ghost/core/test/e2e-api/admin/images.test.js
@@ -308,7 +308,14 @@ describe('Images API', function () {
         const originalFilePath = p.join(__dirname, '/../../utils/fixtures/images/ghost-logo.png');
         const fileContents = await fs.readFile(originalFilePath);
 
+        const loggingStub = sinon.stub(logging, 'error');
         await uploadImageRequest({fileContents, filename: 'test.png', contentType: 'image/png'})
-            .expectStatus(201);
+            .expectStatus(400)
+            .matchBodySnapshot({
+                errors: [{
+                    id: anyErrorId
+                }]
+            });
+        sinon.assert.calledOnce(loggingStub);
     });
 });