diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 4b27407..41d14c1 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -46,6 +46,16 @@ P2: security: per-origin rate limiting
   way, and so is an IPv6 address without brackets, which needed a signature
   before. Underscores are kept because `allowlist_hosts` accepts host names
   holding them.
+- 2026-10-15 a thin source requested with `fit=cover` no longer makes libvips
+  build a huge image (closes #282): libvips scaled the whole source to cover the
+  requested size and copied that into memory before it cut out the centre, so an
+  8192x64 source at 8192x8192 made it allocate about 24 GiB, and an 8192x1
+  source answered 500. The image processor now cuts the centre of the source to
+  the requested size's proportions first and resizes that, so no image larger
+  than the source or the output is made; the crop is the same centre as before.
+  With the runtime image's libvips and JPEG output at 8192x8192, resident memory
+  peaked at about 44 MiB for the 8192x64 source, 40 MiB for the 8192x1 one, and
+  117 MiB for a 4000x3000 one, which took 373 MiB before.
 - 2026-10-15 the README says how a source URL with a query is written into an
   image URL, and the image route accepts it (closes #255): the query follows the
   source path after `%3F`. pixa now reads the image URL's path decoded once, so
diff --git a/internal/imageprocessor/imageprocessor.go b/internal/imageprocessor/imageprocessor.go
index 2a1fbf5..bf08e98 100644
--- a/internal/imageprocessor/imageprocessor.go
+++ b/internal/imageprocessor/imageprocessor.go
@@ -475,8 +475,8 @@ func (p *ImageProcessor) resize(
 ) error {
 	switch fit {
 	case FitCover, "":
-		// Resize and crop to fill exact dimensions (default)
-		return img.Thumbnail(width, height, vips.InterestingCentre)
+		// Crop the centre and resize to fill exact dimensions (default)
+		return cropCentreAndResize(img, width, height)
 
 	case FitContain:
 		// Resize to fit within dimensions, maintaining aspect ratio
@@ -530,6 +530,37 @@ func (p *ImageProcessor) resize(
 	}
 }
 
+// cropCentreAndResize cuts img to its centre, the largest area it holds with
+// the proportions of width x height, and resizes that to width x height.
+// This is the crop libvips' thumbnail makes with InterestingCentre, but
+// libvips scales the whole image to cover the size and copies the result
+// into memory before it crops, and for a thin image that is far larger than
+// the image or the output: 8192x64 at 8192x8192 is 1048576x8192, about 24
+// GiB. Cropping first makes no image larger than img or the output.
+func cropCentreAndResize(img *vips.ImageRef, width, height int) error {
+	imgW, imgH := img.Width(), img.Height()
+
+	// An image wider than the requested proportions keeps its height and
+	// loses width, any other keeps its width and loses height; the side
+	// shortened is rounded to the nearest pixel and is at least 1
+	cropW, cropH := imgW, imgH
+	if imgW*height > imgH*width {
+		cropW = max(1, (imgH*width+height/2)/height)
+	} else {
+		cropH = max(1, (imgW*height+width/2)/width)
+	}
+
+	// Half of what is cut comes off each side
+	left, top := (imgW-cropW)/2, (imgH-cropH)/2 //nolint:mnd // half the cut
+
+	err := img.ExtractArea(left, top, cropW, cropH)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return img.ThumbnailWithSize(width, height, vips.InterestingNone, vips.SizeForce)
+}
+
 const defaultQuality = 85
 
 // encode encodes an image to the specified format. govips gives pixa no way