diff --git a/.storybook/webpack.config.js b/.storybook/webpack.config.js
index 2fc2d048a..36b9001ae 100644
--- a/.storybook/webpack.config.js
+++ b/.storybook/webpack.config.js
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 // Copyright 2019-2020 Signal Messenger, LLC
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
 
+const webpack = require('webpack');
+
 module.exports = ({ config }) => {
   config.entry.unshift(
     '!!style-loader!css-loader!sanitize.css',
@@ -29,5 +31,11 @@ module.exports = ({ config }) => {
     net: 'net',
   };
 
+  config.plugins.unshift(
+    new webpack.IgnorePlugin({
+      resourceRegExp: /sharp$/,
+    })
+  );
+
   return config;
 };
diff --git a/patches/@types+sharp+0.28.0.patch b/patches/@types+sharp+0.28.0.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d9c3def47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/@types+sharp+0.28.0.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+diff --git a/node_modules/@types/sharp/index.d.ts b/node_modules/@types/sharp/index.d.ts
+index 3210332..4808af0 100755
+--- a/node_modules/@types/sharp/index.d.ts
++++ b/node_modules/@types/sharp/index.d.ts
+@@ -23,7 +23,21 @@ import { Duplex } from "stream";
+  * @returns A sharp instance that can be used to chain operations
+  */
+ declare function sharp(options?: sharp.SharpOptions): sharp.Sharp;
+-declare function sharp(input?: string | Buffer, options?: sharp.SharpOptions): sharp.Sharp;
++declare function sharp(
++  input?:
++    | Buffer
++    | Uint8Array
++    | Uint8ClampedArray
++    | Int8Array
++    | Uint16Array
++    | Int16Array
++    | Uint32Array
++    | Int32Array
++    | Float32Array
++    | Float64Array
++    | string,
++  options?: sharp.SharpOptions
++): sharp.Sharp;
+
+ declare namespace sharp {
+     /** Object containing nested boolean values representing the available input and output formats/methods. */
diff --git a/preload.js b/preload.js
index 2efec5111..994ddd509 100644
--- a/preload.js
+++ b/preload.js
@@ -378,7 +378,6 @@ try {
   window.emojiData = require('emoji-datasource');
   window.libphonenumber = require('google-libphonenumber').PhoneNumberUtil.getInstance();
   window.libphonenumber.PhoneNumberFormat = require('google-libphonenumber').PhoneNumberFormat;
-  window.loadImage = require('blueimp-load-image');
   window.getGuid = require('uuid/v4');
 
   const activeWindowService = new ActiveWindowService();
diff --git a/ts/types/Attachment.ts b/ts/types/Attachment.ts
index 5544e8ff3..4bfbaa61a 100644
--- a/ts/types/Attachment.ts
+++ b/ts/types/Attachment.ts
@@ -209,7 +209,11 @@ export async function autoOrientJPEG(
     attachment.data,
     attachment.contentType
   );
-  const xcodedDataBlob = await scaleImageToLevel(dataBlob, isIncoming);
+  const { blob: xcodedDataBlob } = await scaleImageToLevel(
+    dataBlob,
+    attachment.contentType,
+    isIncoming
+  );
   const xcodedDataArrayBuffer = await blobToArrayBuffer(xcodedDataBlob);
 
   // IMPORTANT: We overwrite the existing `data` `ArrayBuffer` losing the original
diff --git a/ts/util/handleImageAttachment.ts b/ts/util/handleImageAttachment.ts
index 7a4ccc3ac..b1fab77f9 100644
--- a/ts/util/handleImageAttachment.ts
+++ b/ts/util/handleImageAttachment.ts
@@ -73,7 +73,19 @@ export async function autoScale({
     return { contentType, file, fileName };
   }
 
-  const blob = await scaleImageToLevel(file, true);
+  const { blob, contentType: newContentType } = await scaleImageToLevel(
+    file,
+    contentType,
+    true
+  );
+
+  if (newContentType !== IMAGE_JPEG) {
+    return {
+      contentType,
+      file: blob,
+      fileName,
+    };
+  }
 
   const { name } = path.parse(fileName);
 
diff --git a/ts/util/scaleImageToLevel.ts b/ts/util/scaleImageToLevel.ts
index 02ab09cfe..adcb2788e 100644
--- a/ts/util/scaleImageToLevel.ts
+++ b/ts/util/scaleImageToLevel.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 // Copyright 2021 Signal Messenger, LLC
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
 
+import sharp from 'sharp';
 import loadImage from 'blueimp-load-image';
 
-import { IMAGE_JPEG } from '../types/MIME';
+import { MIMEType, IMAGE_JPEG } from '../types/MIME';
 import { canvasToBlob } from './canvasToBlob';
 import { getValue } from '../RemoteConfig';
 
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ const DEFAULT_LEVEL_DATA = {
   maxDimensions: 1600,
   quality: 0.7,
   size: MiB,
+  thresholdSize: 0.2 * MiB,
 };
 
 const MEDIA_QUALITY_LEVEL_DATA = new Map([
@@ -31,6 +33,7 @@ const MEDIA_QUALITY_LEVEL_DATA = new Map([
       maxDimensions: 2048,
       quality: 0.75,
       size: MiB * 1.5,
+      thresholdSize: 0.3 * MiB,
     },
   ],
   [
@@ -39,6 +42,7 @@ const MEDIA_QUALITY_LEVEL_DATA = new Map([
       maxDimensions: 4096,
       quality: 0.75,
       size: MiB * 3,
+      thresholdSize: 0.4 * MiB,
     },
   ],
 ]);
@@ -82,7 +86,7 @@ function getMediaQualityLevel(): MediaQualityLevels {
   return countryValues.get('*') || DEFAULT_LEVEL;
 }
 
-async function getCanvasBlob(
+async function getCanvasBlobAsJPEG(
   image: HTMLCanvasElement,
   dimensions: number,
   quality: number
@@ -98,10 +102,20 @@ async function getCanvasBlob(
   return canvasToBlob(canvas, IMAGE_JPEG, quality);
 }
 
+async function stripImageFileEXIFData(file: File | Blob): Promise<Blob> {
+  const arrayBuffer = await file.arrayBuffer();
+  const xArrayBuffer = await sharp(new Uint8Array(arrayBuffer)).toBuffer();
+  return new Blob([xArrayBuffer]);
+}
+
 export async function scaleImageToLevel(
   fileOrBlobOrURL: File | Blob,
+  contentType: MIMEType,
   sendAsHighQuality?: boolean
-): Promise<Blob> {
+): Promise<{
+  blob: Blob;
+  contentType: MIMEType;
+}> {
   let image: HTMLCanvasElement;
   try {
     const data = await loadImage(fileOrBlobOrURL, {
@@ -121,9 +135,17 @@ export async function scaleImageToLevel(
   const level = sendAsHighQuality
     ? MediaQualityLevels.Three
     : getMediaQualityLevel();
-  const { maxDimensions, quality, size } =
+  const { maxDimensions, quality, size, thresholdSize } =
     MEDIA_QUALITY_LEVEL_DATA.get(level) || DEFAULT_LEVEL_DATA;
 
+  if (fileOrBlobOrURL.size <= thresholdSize) {
+    const blob = await stripImageFileEXIFData(fileOrBlobOrURL);
+    return {
+      blob,
+      contentType,
+    };
+  }
+
   for (let i = 0; i < SCALABLE_DIMENSIONS.length; i += 1) {
     const scalableDimensions = SCALABLE_DIMENSIONS[i];
     if (maxDimensions < scalableDimensions) {
@@ -132,11 +154,18 @@ export async function scaleImageToLevel(
 
     // We need these operations to be in serial
     // eslint-disable-next-line no-await-in-loop
-    const blob = await getCanvasBlob(image, scalableDimensions, quality);
+    const blob = await getCanvasBlobAsJPEG(image, scalableDimensions, quality);
     if (blob.size <= size) {
-      return blob;
+      return {
+        blob,
+        contentType: IMAGE_JPEG,
+      };
     }
   }
 
-  return getCanvasBlob(image, MIN_DIMENSIONS, quality);
+  const blob = await getCanvasBlobAsJPEG(image, MIN_DIMENSIONS, quality);
+  return {
+    blob,
+    contentType: IMAGE_JPEG,
+  };
 }