diff --git a/MediaBrowser.Api/Playback/BaseStreamingService.cs b/MediaBrowser.Api/Playback/BaseStreamingService.cs
index ceb96d226c..b510a640e4 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.Api/Playback/BaseStreamingService.cs
+++ b/MediaBrowser.Api/Playback/BaseStreamingService.cs
@@ -503,14 +503,13 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.Api.Playback
                 return string.Format("{4} -vf \"{0}scale=trunc({1}/2)*2:trunc({2}/2)*2{3}\"", yadifParam, widthParam, heightParam, assSubtitleParam, copyTsParam);
             }
 
-            // If Max dimensions were supplied
-            //this makes my brain hurt. For width selects lowest even number between input width and width req size and selects lowest even number from in width*display aspect and requested size
+            // If Max dimensions were supplied, for width selects lowest even number between input width and width req size and selects lowest even number from in width*display aspect and requested size
             if (request.MaxWidth.HasValue && request.MaxHeight.HasValue)
             {
-                var MaxwidthParam = request.MaxWidth.Value.ToString(UsCulture);
-                var MaxheightParam = request.MaxHeight.Value.ToString(UsCulture);
+                var maxWidthParam = request.MaxWidth.Value.ToString(UsCulture);
+                var maxHeightParam = request.MaxHeight.Value.ToString(UsCulture);
 
-                return string.Format("{4} -vf \"{0}scale=trunc(min(iw\\,{1})/2)*2:trunc(min((iw/dar)\\,{2})/2)*2{3}\"", yadifParam, MaxwidthParam, MaxheightParam, assSubtitleParam, copyTsParam);
+                return string.Format("{4} -vf \"{0}scale=trunc(min(iw\\,{1})/2)*2:trunc(min((iw/dar)\\,{2})/2)*2{3}\"", yadifParam, maxWidthParam, maxHeightParam, assSubtitleParam, copyTsParam);
             }
 
             var isH264Output = outputVideoCodec.Equals("libx264", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
diff --git a/MediaBrowser.Controller/MediaBrowser.Controller.csproj b/MediaBrowser.Controller/MediaBrowser.Controller.csproj
index 5e6297d060..38955f728e 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.Controller/MediaBrowser.Controller.csproj
+++ b/MediaBrowser.Controller/MediaBrowser.Controller.csproj
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@
     <Compile Include="Localization\ILocalizationManager.cs" />
     <Compile Include="MediaEncoding\ChapterImageRefreshOptions.cs" />
     <Compile Include="MediaEncoding\IEncodingManager.cs" />
+    <Compile Include="MediaEncoding\ImageEncodingOptions.cs" />
     <Compile Include="MediaEncoding\IMediaEncoder.cs" />
     <Compile Include="MediaEncoding\InternalMediaInfoResult.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Net\IHasResultFactory.cs" />
diff --git a/MediaBrowser.Controller/MediaEncoding/IMediaEncoder.cs b/MediaBrowser.Controller/MediaEncoding/IMediaEncoder.cs
index 657e52e5a8..e9081fe8a3 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.Controller/MediaEncoding/IMediaEncoder.cs
+++ b/MediaBrowser.Controller/MediaEncoding/IMediaEncoder.cs
@@ -88,6 +88,14 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.Controller.MediaEncoding
         /// <param name="type">The type.</param>
         /// <returns>System.String.</returns>
         string GetInputArgument(string[] inputFiles, InputType type);
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Encodes the image.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="options">The options.</param>
+        /// <param name="cancellationToken">The cancellation token.</param>
+        /// <returns>Task{Stream}.</returns>
+        Task<Stream> EncodeImage(ImageEncodingOptions options, CancellationToken cancellationToken);
     }
 
     /// <summary>
diff --git a/MediaBrowser.Controller/MediaEncoding/ImageEncodingOptions.cs b/MediaBrowser.Controller/MediaEncoding/ImageEncodingOptions.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c76977f29b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/MediaBrowser.Controller/MediaEncoding/ImageEncodingOptions.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+
+namespace MediaBrowser.Controller.MediaEncoding
+{
+    public class ImageEncodingOptions
+    {
+        public string InputPath { get; set; }
+        
+        public int? Width { get; set; }
+
+        public int? Height { get; set; }
+
+        public int? MaxWidth { get; set; }
+
+        public int? MaxHeight { get; set; }
+
+        public string Format { get; set; }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/Encoder/ImageEncoder.cs b/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/Encoder/ImageEncoder.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5e4221b0f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/Encoder/ImageEncoder.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+using MediaBrowser.Controller.MediaEncoding;
+using MediaBrowser.Model.Logging;
+using System;
+using System.Diagnostics;
+using System.Globalization;
+using System.IO;
+using System.Threading;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+
+namespace MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.Encoder
+{
+    public class ImageEncoder
+    {
+        private readonly string _ffmpegPath;
+        private readonly ILogger _logger;
+        private readonly CultureInfo _usCulture = new CultureInfo("en-US");
+
+        private static readonly SemaphoreSlim ResourcePool = new SemaphoreSlim(5, 5);
+
+        public ImageEncoder(string ffmpegPath, ILogger logger)
+        {
+            _ffmpegPath = ffmpegPath;
+            _logger = logger;
+        }
+
+        public async Task<Stream> EncodeImage(ImageEncodingOptions options, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+        {
+            ValidateInput(options);
+
+            var process = new Process
+            {
+                StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
+                {
+                    CreateNoWindow = true,
+                    UseShellExecute = false,
+                    FileName = _ffmpegPath,
+                    Arguments = GetArguments(options),
+                    WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden,
+                    ErrorDialog = false,
+                    RedirectStandardOutput = true,
+                    RedirectStandardError = true
+                }
+            };
+
+            await ResourcePool.WaitAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            process.Start();
+
+            var memoryStream = new MemoryStream();
+
+#pragma warning disable 4014
+            // Important - don't await the log task or we won't be able to kill ffmpeg when the user stops playback
+            process.StandardOutput.BaseStream.CopyToAsync(memoryStream);
+#pragma warning restore 4014
+
+            // MUST read both stdout and stderr asynchronously or a deadlock may occurr
+            process.BeginErrorReadLine();
+
+            var ranToCompletion = process.WaitForExit(5000);
+
+            if (!ranToCompletion)
+            {
+                try
+                {
+                    _logger.Info("Killing ffmpeg process");
+
+                    process.Kill();
+
+                    process.WaitForExit(1000);
+                }
+                catch (Exception ex)
+                {
+                    _logger.ErrorException("Error killing process", ex);
+                }
+            }
+
+            ResourcePool.Release();
+
+            var exitCode = ranToCompletion ? process.ExitCode : -1;
+
+            process.Dispose();
+
+            if (exitCode == -1 || memoryStream.Length == 0)
+            {
+                memoryStream.Dispose();
+
+                var msg = string.Format("ffmpeg image encoding failed for {0}", options.InputPath);
+
+                _logger.Error(msg);
+
+                throw new ApplicationException(msg);
+            }
+
+            memoryStream.Position = 0;
+            return memoryStream;
+        }
+
+        private string GetArguments(ImageEncodingOptions options)
+        {
+            var vfScale = GetFilterGraph(options);
+            var outputFormat = GetOutputFormat(options);
+
+            return string.Format("-i file:\"{0}\" {1} -f {2}",
+                options.InputPath,
+                vfScale,
+                outputFormat);
+        }
+
+        private string GetFilterGraph(ImageEncodingOptions options)
+        {
+            if (!options.Width.HasValue &&
+                !options.Height.HasValue &&
+                !options.MaxHeight.HasValue &&
+                !options.MaxWidth.HasValue)
+            {
+                return string.Empty;
+            }
+
+            var widthScale = "-1";
+            var heightScale = "-1";
+
+            if (options.MaxWidth.HasValue)
+            {
+                widthScale = "min(iw," + options.MaxWidth.Value.ToString(_usCulture) + ")";
+            }
+            else if (options.Width.HasValue)
+            {
+                widthScale = options.Width.Value.ToString(_usCulture);
+            }
+
+            if (options.MaxHeight.HasValue)
+            {
+                heightScale = "min(ih," + options.MaxHeight.Value.ToString(_usCulture) + ")";
+            }
+            else if (options.Height.HasValue)
+            {
+                heightScale = options.Height.Value.ToString(_usCulture);
+            }
+
+            var scaleMethod = "lanczos";
+
+            return string.Format("-vf scale=\"{0}:{1}\" -sws_flags {2}", 
+                widthScale, 
+                heightScale,
+                scaleMethod);
+        }
+
+        private string GetOutputFormat(ImageEncodingOptions options)
+        {
+            return options.Format;
+        }
+
+        private void ValidateInput(ImageEncodingOptions options)
+        {
+
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/Encoder/MediaEncoder.cs b/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/Encoder/MediaEncoder.cs
index 7cabf23c48..55035a4caf 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/Encoder/MediaEncoder.cs
+++ b/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/Encoder/MediaEncoder.cs
@@ -948,14 +948,9 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.Encoder
             return GetFileInputArgument(playableStreamFiles[0]);
         }
 
-        /// <summary>
-        /// Gets the bluray input argument.
-        /// </summary>
-        /// <param name="blurayRoot">The bluray root.</param>
-        /// <returns>System.String.</returns>
-        private string GetBlurayInputArgument(string blurayRoot)
+        public Task<Stream> EncodeImage(ImageEncodingOptions options, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
         {
-            return string.Format("bluray:\"{0}\"", blurayRoot);
+            return new ImageEncoder(FFMpegPath, _logger).EncodeImage(options, cancellationToken);
         }
 
         /// <summary>
diff --git a/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.csproj b/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.csproj
index d92522bf01..fb1041f89e 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.csproj
+++ b/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding/MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.csproj
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
   </ItemGroup>
   <ItemGroup>
     <Compile Include="BdInfo\BdInfoExaminer.cs" />
+    <Compile Include="Encoder\ImageEncoder.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Encoder\MediaEncoder.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs" />
   </ItemGroup>