diff --git a/Assets/Scripts/ReferenceImage.cs b/Assets/Scripts/ReferenceImage.cs
index 75afa786fe..251e3bdf5c 100644
--- a/Assets/Scripts/ReferenceImage.cs
+++ b/Assets/Scripts/ReferenceImage.cs
@@ -344,6 +344,14 @@ public bool RequestLoad(bool allowMainThread = false)
                 // TODO Move into the async code path?
                 var importer = new RuntimeSVGImporter();
                 var tex = importer.ImportAsTexture(FilePath);
+
+                if (!ValidateDimensions(tex.width, tex.height, App.PlatformConfig.ReferenceImagesMaxDimension))
+                {
+                    m_State = ImageState.ErrorImageTooLarge;
+                    Object.Destroy(tex);
+                    return true;
+                }
+
                 ImageCache.SaveImageCache(tex, FilePath);
                 m_ImageAspect = (float)tex.width / tex.height;
                 int resizeLimit = App.PlatformConfig.ReferenceImagesResizeDimension;
@@ -370,6 +378,14 @@ public bool RequestLoad(bool allowMainThread = false)
                 RadianceHDRTexture hdr = new RadianceHDRTexture(fileData);
                 Texture2D tex = new Texture2D(2, 2, TextureFormat.RGB24, false);
                 tex = hdr.texture;
+
+                if (!ValidateDimensions(tex.width, tex.height, App.PlatformConfig.ReferenceImagesMaxDimension))
+                {
+                    m_State = ImageState.ErrorImageTooLarge;
+                    Object.Destroy(tex);
+                    return true;
+                }
+
                 ImageCache.SaveImageCache(tex, FilePath);
                 m_ImageAspect = (float)tex.width / tex.height;
                 int resizeLimit = App.PlatformConfig.ReferenceImagesResizeDimension;
@@ -495,6 +511,14 @@ IEnumerator<Timeslice> RequestLoadCoroutineMainThread()
                     // from WWW.LoadImageIntoTexture
                     Texture2D inTex = new Texture2D(2, 2, TextureFormat.RGBA32, true);
                     loader.LoadImageIntoTexture(inTex);
+
+                    if (!ValidateDimensions(inTex.width, inTex.height, App.PlatformConfig.ReferenceImagesMaxDimension))
+                    {
+                        m_State = ImageState.ErrorImageTooLarge;
+                        Object.Destroy(inTex);
+                        yield break;
+                    }
+
                     DownsizeTexture(inTex, ref m_Icon, ReferenceImageCatalog.MAX_ICON_TEX_DIMENSION);
                     m_Icon.wrapMode = TextureWrapMode.Clamp;
                     m_ImageAspect = (float)inTex.width / inTex.height;
@@ -548,6 +572,18 @@ IEnumerable<Timeslice> RequestLoadCoroutine()
                 if (imageLoad != null)
                 {
                     ControllerConsoleScript.m_Instance.AddNewLine(imageLoad.Message, true);
+                    if (imageLoad.imageLoadErrorCode == ImageLoadError.ImageLoadErrorCode.ImageTooLargeError)
+                    {
+                        m_State = ImageState.ErrorImageTooLarge;
+                    }
+                    else
+                    {
+                        m_State = ImageState.Error;
+                    }
+
+                    reader = null;
+                    yield break;
+
                 }
             }
 
@@ -578,8 +614,6 @@ IEnumerable<Timeslice> RequestLoadCoroutine()
             else
             {
                 // Problem reading the file?
-                // images with state ImageState.Error display a generic error message 'Image failed to load' when hovering over them in the reference panel
-                // TODO: use more specific error messages (e.g "Too large dimensions", "Unknown format") that are set in ImageUtils.cs? (that is called by ThreadedImageReader.cs)
                 m_State = ImageState.Error;
                 reader = null;
                 yield break;
@@ -595,6 +629,21 @@ private bool ValidateFileSize()
             return info.Length <= App.PlatformConfig.ReferenceImagesMaxFileSize;
         }
 
+        private bool ValidateDimensions(int imageWidth, int imageHeight, int maxDimension)
+        {
+
+            // Cast to long as maxDimension is big enough on desktop to overflow
+            if (imageWidth * imageHeight > ((long)maxDimension * (long)maxDimension))
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                return true;
+            }
+
+        }
+
         public string GetExportName()
         {
             return Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(FileName);
diff --git a/Assets/Scripts/Util/ImageUtils.cs b/Assets/Scripts/Util/ImageUtils.cs
index 926e8459fb..6fa81a9bf7 100644
--- a/Assets/Scripts/Util/ImageUtils.cs
+++ b/Assets/Scripts/Util/ImageUtils.cs
@@ -20,8 +20,22 @@
 
 namespace TiltBrush
 {
+
+
+
     public class ImageLoadError : Exception
     {
+
+        public enum ImageLoadErrorCode
+        {
+            // This is the default one; errors like unknown format, corruption, etc.
+            ImageGenericError,
+            // too large dimensions
+            ImageTooLargeError
+        }
+
+        public ImageLoadErrorCode imageLoadErrorCode = ImageLoadErrorCode.ImageGenericError;
+
         public ImageLoadError(string message) : base(message) { }
         public ImageLoadError(string fmt, params System.Object[] args)
             : base(string.Format(fmt, args))
@@ -31,6 +45,11 @@ public ImageLoadError(Exception inner, string fmt, params System.Object[] args)
             : base(string.Format(fmt, args), inner)
         {
         }
+
+        public ImageLoadError(string message, ImageLoadErrorCode imageLoadErrorCode) : base(message)
+        {
+            this.imageLoadErrorCode = imageLoadErrorCode;
+        }
     }
 
     static public class ImageUtils
@@ -92,7 +111,7 @@ static public void ValidateDimensions(byte[] data, int maxDimension)
             {
                 throw new ImageLoadError(
                     String.Format("Image dimensions {0}x{1} are greater than max dimensions of {2}x{2}!",
-                        imageWidth, imageHeight, maxDimension));
+                        imageWidth, imageHeight, maxDimension), ImageLoadError.ImageLoadErrorCode.ImageTooLargeError);
             }
         }