diff --git a/tests/test-mtmd-impl.cpp b/tests/test-mtmd-impl.cpp
index 5321f2ed1eb9..dfa3e5e2c544 100644
--- a/tests/test-mtmd-impl.cpp
+++ b/tests/test-mtmd-impl.cpp
@@ -45,6 +45,27 @@ struct test_registry {
 // mtmd_image
 //
 
+MAKE_TEST(test_image_preprocessor_longest_edge) {
+    clip_hparams hparams;
+    hparams.image_longest_edge = 1540;
+    hparams.patch_size = 14;
+    hparams.n_merge = 2;
+
+    const std::vector<std::pair<clip_image_size, clip_image_size>> cases = {
+        { {  463,  463 }, {  476,  476 } },
+        { {  463,  300 }, {  476,  308 } },
+        { {  448,  280 }, {  448,  280 } },
+        { { 2000, 1000 }, { 1540,  784 } },
+    };
+
+    for (const auto & [input, expected] : cases) {
+        const clip_image_size actual = mtmd_image_preprocessor_longest_edge::get_target_size(hparams, input);
+        const std::string name = std::to_string(input.width) + "x" + std::to_string(input.height);
+        t.assert_equal(name + " width", expected.width, actual.width);
+        t.assert_equal(name + " height", expected.height, actual.height);
+    }
+}
+
 MAKE_TEST(test_image_preprocessor_lfm2) {
     clip_hparams hparams;
     hparams.patch_size = 16;
diff --git a/tools/mtmd/mtmd-image.cpp b/tools/mtmd/mtmd-image.cpp
index a34fd4548756..5debfe6f0dd8 100644
--- a/tools/mtmd/mtmd-image.cpp
+++ b/tools/mtmd/mtmd-image.cpp
@@ -863,20 +863,24 @@ mtmd_image_preproc_out mtmd_image_preprocessor_glm5v::preprocess(const clip_imag
 // mtmd_image_preprocessor_longest_edge
 //
 
-mtmd_image_preproc_out mtmd_image_preprocessor_longest_edge::preprocess(const clip_image_u8 & img) const {
+clip_image_size mtmd_image_preprocessor_longest_edge::get_target_size(const clip_hparams & hparams, const clip_image_size & original_size) {
     GGML_ASSERT(hparams.image_longest_edge > 0);
-    clip_image_u8 resized_image;
-    const clip_image_size original_size = img.get_size();
     // the original pixtral model doesn't have n_merge
     const int cur_merge = hparams.n_merge == 0 ? 1 : hparams.n_merge;
-    const clip_image_size target_size = img_tool::calc_size_preserved_ratio(
+    return img_tool::calc_size_preserved_ratio(
         original_size,
         {
             /* align_size   */ hparams.patch_size * cur_merge,
             /* min_pixels   */ std::max(0, hparams.image_min_pixels),
             /* max_pixels   */ std::max(0, hparams.image_max_pixels),
-            /* longest_edge */ hparams.image_longest_edge,
+            /* longest_edge */ std::min(hparams.image_longest_edge,
+                                        std::max(original_size.width, original_size.height)),
         });
+}
+
+mtmd_image_preproc_out mtmd_image_preprocessor_longest_edge::preprocess(const clip_image_u8 & img) const {
+    clip_image_u8 resized_image;
+    const clip_image_size target_size = get_target_size(hparams, img.get_size());
     img_tool::resize(img, resized_image, target_size,
                         hparams.image_resize_algo,
                         hparams.image_resize_pad,
diff --git a/tools/mtmd/mtmd-image.h b/tools/mtmd/mtmd-image.h
index b318b2d4208d..1798ce51d4fb 100644
--- a/tools/mtmd/mtmd-image.h
+++ b/tools/mtmd/mtmd-image.h
@@ -140,9 +140,10 @@ struct mtmd_image_preprocessor_glm5v : mtmd_image_preprocessor {
     mtmd_image_preproc_out preprocess(const clip_image_u8 & img) const override;
 };
 
-// similar to mtmd_image_preprocessor_dyn_size, but resize the image to have longest edge equal to hparams.image_longest_edge, while preserving aspect ratio
+// similar to mtmd_image_preprocessor_dyn_size, but cap the longest edge at hparams.image_longest_edge, while preserving aspect ratio
 struct mtmd_image_preprocessor_longest_edge : mtmd_image_preprocessor {
     mtmd_image_preprocessor_longest_edge(const clip_ctx * ctx) : mtmd_image_preprocessor(ctx) {}
+    static clip_image_size get_target_size(const clip_hparams & hparams, const clip_image_size & original_size);
     mtmd_image_preproc_out preprocess(const clip_image_u8 & img) const override;
 };