diff --git a/DOCS/man/osc.rst b/DOCS/man/osc.rst
index 63bb543a00f78..d6f477d8d0912 100644
--- a/DOCS/man/osc.rst
+++ b/DOCS/man/osc.rst
@@ -733,6 +733,10 @@ The OSC supports displaying preview thumbnails when hovering over the seekbar if
 a compatible thumbnailer script is installed. It communicates with a thumbnailer
 script via the following ``user-data`` properties:
 
+``user-data/osc/thumbnailer-enabled``
+    Boolean property set by the thumbnailer to signal that it is capable of
+    providing thumbnail for the currently playing file.
+
 ``user-data/osc/draw-preview``
     Set by the OSC to request a thumbnail within the currently playing file.
     The requested thumbnail timestamp in seconds is set in
diff --git a/player/lua/osc.lua b/player/lua/osc.lua
index 8d4f8ffa1099c..628d3d1ee06f8 100644
--- a/player/lua/osc.lua
+++ b/player/lua/osc.lua
@@ -365,6 +365,10 @@ local santa_hat_lines = {
 -- luacheck: pop
 
 
+local thumbnailer_enabled = false
+mp.observe_property("user-data/osc/thumbnailer-enabled", "bool",
+    function(_, val) thumbnailer_enabled = val or false end)
+
 --
 -- Helper functions
 --
@@ -1198,7 +1202,7 @@ local function render_elements(master_ass)
                     -- thumbnail
                     local vop = mp.get_property_native("video-out-params")
                     local draw_thumbnail = state.osd_dimensions.w > 0 and vop
-                    if draw_thumbnail then
+                    if draw_thumbnail and thumbnailer_enabled then
                         local r_w, r_h = get_virt_scale_factor()
                         local thumb_max = math.min(user_opts.max_thumb_size,
                             math.min(state.osd_dimensions.w, state.osd_dimensions.h) * 0.25)