diff --git a/src/NzbDrone.Core/MediaCover/GdiPlusInterop.cs b/src/NzbDrone.Core/MediaCover/GdiPlusInterop.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..36c5a65eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/NzbDrone.Core/MediaCover/GdiPlusInterop.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Drawing;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
+using System.Text;
+using NzbDrone.Common.EnvironmentInfo;
+
+namespace NzbDrone.Core.MediaCover
+{
+    public static class GdiPlusInterop
+    {
+        private static Exception _gdiPlusException;
+
+        static GdiPlusInterop()
+        {
+            TestLibrary();
+        }
+
+        private static void TestLibrary()
+        {
+            if (OsInfo.IsWindows)
+            {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            try
+            {
+                // We use StringFormat as test coz it gets properly cleaned up by the finalizer even if gdiplus is absent and is relatively non-invasive.
+                var strFormat = new StringFormat();
+
+                strFormat.Dispose();
+            }
+            catch (Exception ex)
+            {
+                _gdiPlusException = ex;
+            }
+        }
+
+        public static void CheckGdiPlus()
+        {
+            if (_gdiPlusException != null)
+            {
+                throw new DllNotFoundException("Couldn't load GDIPlus library", _gdiPlusException);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/NzbDrone.Core/MediaCover/ImageResizer.cs b/src/NzbDrone.Core/MediaCover/ImageResizer.cs
index 0466c0361..9a75065ff 100644
--- a/src/NzbDrone.Core/MediaCover/ImageResizer.cs
+++ b/src/NzbDrone.Core/MediaCover/ImageResizer.cs
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ namespace NzbDrone.Core.MediaCover
         {
             try
             {
+                GdiPlusInterop.CheckGdiPlus();
+
                 using (var sourceStream = _diskProvider.OpenReadStream(source))
                 {
                     using (var outputStream = _diskProvider.OpenWriteStream(destination))
diff --git a/src/NzbDrone.Core/NzbDrone.Core.csproj b/src/NzbDrone.Core/NzbDrone.Core.csproj
index 553e6b41a..d427f229e 100644
--- a/src/NzbDrone.Core/NzbDrone.Core.csproj
+++ b/src/NzbDrone.Core/NzbDrone.Core.csproj
@@ -686,6 +686,7 @@
     <Compile Include="Lifecycle\Commands\ShutdownCommand.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Lifecycle\LifecycleService.cs" />
     <Compile Include="MediaCover\CoverAlreadyExistsSpecification.cs" />
+    <Compile Include="MediaCover\GdiPlusInterop.cs" />
     <Compile Include="MediaCover\MediaCover.cs" />
     <Compile Include="MediaCover\ImageResizer.cs" />
     <Compile Include="MediaCover\MediaCoverService.cs" />