diff --git a/app/models/photo.rb b/app/models/photo.rb
index 0a77df62a..e9fbe5d20 100644
--- a/app/models/photo.rb
+++ b/app/models/photo.rb
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ class Photo < ApplicationRecord
 
   mount_uploader :processed_image, ProcessedImage
   mount_uploader :unprocessed_image, UnprocessedImage
+  attr_accessor :keep_original_format
 
   belongs_to :status_message, foreign_key: :status_message_guid, primary_key: :guid, optional: true
   validates_associated :status_message
@@ -50,7 +51,6 @@ class Photo < ApplicationRecord
 
   after_commit on: :create do
     queue_processing_job if author.local?
-
   end
 
   scope :on_statuses, ->(post_guids) {
diff --git a/app/services/import_service.rb b/app/services/import_service.rb
index cb6d02e3b..89e107452 100644
--- a/app/services/import_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/import_service.rb
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ class ImportService
   def store_and_process_photo(photo, uploaded_file, random_string)
     File.open(uploaded_file) do |file|
       photo.random_string = random_string
+      photo.keep_original_format = true
       photo.unprocessed_image.store! file
       photo.update_remote_path
       photo.save(touch: false)
diff --git a/app/uploaders/unprocessed_image.rb b/app/uploaders/unprocessed_image.rb
index 558202e3e..a653aa34f 100644
--- a/app/uploaders/unprocessed_image.rb
+++ b/app/uploaders/unprocessed_image.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class UnprocessedImage < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
 
   def needs_converting?
     extname = File.extname(@filename)
-    %w[.webp .gif].exclude?(extname)
+    %w[.webp .gif].exclude?(extname) && !model.keep_original_format
   end
 
   process :basic_process