diff --git a/internal/infrastructure/docparser/builtin_converter.go b/internal/infrastructure/docparser/builtin_converter.go
index 3779cfa7..0cf3860a 100644
--- a/internal/infrastructure/docparser/builtin_converter.go
+++ b/internal/infrastructure/docparser/builtin_converter.go
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ func imageToResult(fileName string, data []byte) *types.ReadResult {
 				OriginalRef: safeRef,
 				MimeType:    mime,
 				ImageData:   data,
+				IsOriginal:  true,
 			},
 		},
 	}
@@ -170,6 +171,7 @@ func ensureOriginalImageRef(req *types.ReadRequest, mdContent string, imageRefs
 		OriginalRef: refPath,
 		MimeType:    mime,
 		ImageData:   req.FileContent,
+		IsOriginal:  true,
 	})
 
 	return mdContent, imageRefs
diff --git a/internal/infrastructure/docparser/image_resolver.go b/internal/infrastructure/docparser/image_resolver.go
index eebe30b4..9c2b35bf 100644
--- a/internal/infrastructure/docparser/image_resolver.go
+++ b/internal/infrastructure/docparser/image_resolver.go
@@ -126,8 +126,11 @@ func (r *ImageResolver) ResolveAndStore(
 			continue
 		}
 
-		// Filter out small icons and decorative images
-		if isIconImage(ref.ImageData) {
+		// Filter out small icons and decorative images. Skip the filter
+		// when the reference is the originally uploaded file itself, so
+		// that a standalone image upload is never silently dropped even
+		// if its dimensions are below the icon threshold.
+		if !ref.IsOriginal && isIconImage(ref.ImageData) {
 			// Remove the image reference from markdown entirely
 			markdown = markdown[:m[0]] + markdown[m[1]:]
 			continue
diff --git a/internal/types/docparser.go b/internal/types/docparser.go
index 861a8af4..b2e1f164 100644
--- a/internal/types/docparser.go
+++ b/internal/types/docparser.go
@@ -31,6 +31,11 @@ type ImageRef struct {
 	MimeType    string
 	StorageKey  string
 	ImageData   []byte // inline image bytes (universal fallback for cross-machine deployments)
+	// IsOriginal marks references that point to the originally uploaded file
+	// itself (e.g. when the user uploads a standalone image). Such references
+	// must not be dropped by the icon/size filter — otherwise a small image
+	// upload would be silently discarded before multimodal processing.
+	IsOriginal bool
 }
 
 // ParserEngineInfo describes a registered parser engine.