diff --git a/src/lib/services/swf/nitro-builder.ts b/src/lib/services/swf/nitro-builder.ts
index 84ffd4db..f94f7658 100644
--- a/src/lib/services/swf/nitro-builder.ts
+++ b/src/lib/services/swf/nitro-builder.ts
@@ -520,14 +520,29 @@ function inflateJsonOrGzip(
  * renamed. `meta.image` is corrected by `createNitroBundle`.
  *
  * A bundle that is already lossless WebP is returned untouched, which keeps
- * the operation idempotent and avoids a pointless re-encode.
+ * the operation idempotent and avoids a pointless re-encode — but only when
+ * its metadata is already consistent. A bundle whose `meta.image` names a
+ * member that is not in the file is still rebuilt, because a client that
+ * cannot find the texture renders nothing and a re-encode is not what fixes
+ * that.
  *
  * Throws if the texture claims to be PNG or WebP but cannot actually be
  * decoded; callers that would rather keep the original should catch.
  */
 export async function toWebpLosslessBundle(bundle: Buffer): Promise<Buffer> {
 	const parsed = parseNitroBundle(bundle);
-	if (isLosslessWebp(parsed.texture)) return bundle;
+	const meta = (parsed.json as { spritesheet?: { meta?: { image?: string } } })
+		.spritesheet?.meta;
+	if (isLosslessWebp(parsed.texture)) {
+		if (meta?.image === parsed.textureFileName) return bundle;
+		// Stale metadata only: rebuild the archive with the pointer corrected
+		// and reuse the existing VP8L bytes rather than re-encoding them.
+		return createNitroBundle(
+			parsed.json,
+			parsed.texture,
+			parsed.textureFileName.replace(/\.(?:png|webp)$/i, ""),
+		);
+	}
 
 	const image = sharp(parsed.texture);
 	const { width = 0, height = 0 } = await image.metadata();
diff --git a/src/lib/services/swf/nitro-webp.test.ts b/src/lib/services/swf/nitro-webp.test.ts
index 36cd40ca..e4c6c83a 100644
--- a/src/lib/services/swf/nitro-webp.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/services/swf/nitro-webp.test.ts
@@ -223,6 +223,22 @@ describe("normalising a bundle to WebP Lossless", () => {
 		);
 		await expect(toWebpLosslessBundle(broken)).rejects.toThrow();
 	});
+
+	it("repairs stale meta.image in a bundle that is already lossless", async () => {
+		// Already VP8L, so there is nothing to re-encode — but the pointer
+		// names a member the archive does not contain, which a re-encode
+		// would not be what fixes.
+		const stale = await bundleWith("webp", "chair.png");
+		expect(isLosslessWebp(parseNitroBundle(stale).texture)).toBe(true);
+
+		const after = parseNitroBundle(await toWebpLosslessBundle(stale));
+		expect(after.textureFileName).toBe("chair.webp");
+		expect(
+			(after.json.spritesheet as { meta: { image: string } }).meta.image,
+		).toBe("chair.webp");
+		// The existing VP8L bytes are reused rather than decoded again.
+		expect(after.texture.equals(parseNitroBundle(stale).texture)).toBe(true);
+	});
 });
 
 describe("spritesheet encoding", () => {