diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 98e77f7..f18e409 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -686,6 +686,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "objc2",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "displaydoc"
+version = "0.2.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "97369cbbc041bc366949bc74d34658d6cda5621039731c6310521892a3a20ae0"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.117",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "document-features"
 version = "0.2.12"
@@ -900,6 +911,15 @@ version = "0.2.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "77ce24cb58228fbb8aa041425bb1050850ac19177686ea6e0f41a70416f56fdb"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "form_urlencoded"
+version = "1.2.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "cb4cb245038516f5f85277875cdaa4f7d2c9a0fa0468de06ed190163b1581fcf"
+dependencies = [
+ "percent-encoding",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "futures-core"
 version = "0.3.31"
@@ -1017,12 +1037,114 @@ version = "2.3.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "135b12329e5e3ce057a9f972339ea52bc954fe1e9358ef27f95e89716fbc5424"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_collections"
+version = "2.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "4c6b649701667bbe825c3b7e6388cb521c23d88644678e83c0c4d0a621a34b43"
+dependencies = [
+ "displaydoc",
+ "potential_utf",
+ "yoke",
+ "zerofrom",
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_locale_core"
+version = "2.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "edba7861004dd3714265b4db54a3c390e880ab658fec5f7db895fae2046b5bb6"
+dependencies = [
+ "displaydoc",
+ "litemap",
+ "tinystr",
+ "writeable",
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_normalizer"
+version = "2.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5f6c8828b67bf8908d82127b2054ea1b4427ff0230ee9141c54251934ab1b599"
+dependencies = [
+ "icu_collections",
+ "icu_normalizer_data",
+ "icu_properties",
+ "icu_provider",
+ "smallvec",
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_normalizer_data"
+version = "2.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7aedcccd01fc5fe81e6b489c15b247b8b0690feb23304303a9e560f37efc560a"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_properties"
+version = "2.1.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "020bfc02fe870ec3a66d93e677ccca0562506e5872c650f893269e08615d74ec"
+dependencies = [
+ "icu_collections",
+ "icu_locale_core",
+ "icu_properties_data",
+ "icu_provider",
+ "zerotrie",
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_properties_data"
+version = "2.1.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "616c294cf8d725c6afcd8f55abc17c56464ef6211f9ed59cccffe534129c77af"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "icu_provider"
+version = "2.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "85962cf0ce02e1e0a629cc34e7ca3e373ce20dda4c4d7294bbd0bf1fdb59e614"
+dependencies = [
+ "displaydoc",
+ "icu_locale_core",
+ "writeable",
+ "yoke",
+ "zerofrom",
+ "zerotrie",
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ident_case"
 version = "1.0.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "b9e0384b61958566e926dc50660321d12159025e767c18e043daf26b70104c39"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "idna"
+version = "1.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3b0875f23caa03898994f6ddc501886a45c7d3d62d04d2d90788d47be1b1e4de"
+dependencies = [
+ "idna_adapter",
+ "smallvec",
+ "utf8_iter",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "idna_adapter"
+version = "1.2.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3acae9609540aa318d1bc588455225fb2085b9ed0c4f6bd0d9d5bcd86f1a0344"
+dependencies = [
+ "icu_normalizer",
+ "icu_properties",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "imagesize"
 version = "0.14.0"
@@ -1200,6 +1322,12 @@ version = "0.12.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "32a66949e030da00e8c7d4434b251670a91556f4144941d37452769c25d58a53"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "litemap"
+version = "0.8.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "6373607a59f0be73a39b6fe456b8192fcc3585f602af20751600e974dd455e77"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "litrs"
 version = "1.0.0"
@@ -1273,6 +1401,22 @@ dependencies = [
  "autocfg",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "mime"
+version = "0.3.17"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "6877bb514081ee2a7ff5ef9de3281f14a4dd4bceac4c09388074a6b5df8a139a"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "mime-sniffer"
+version = "0.1.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "6b8b2a64cd735f1d5f17ff6701ced3cc3c54851f9448caf454cd9c923d812408"
+dependencies = [
+ "mime",
+ "url",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "minimal-lexical"
 version = "0.2.1"
@@ -1523,6 +1667,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-link 0.2.1",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "percent-encoding"
+version = "2.3.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9b4f627cb1b25917193a259e49bdad08f671f8d9708acfd5fe0a8c1455d87220"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "pest"
 version = "2.8.5"
@@ -1681,6 +1831,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "portable-atomic",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "potential_utf"
+version = "0.1.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b73949432f5e2a09657003c25bca5e19a0e9c84f8058ca374f49e0ebe605af77"
+dependencies = [
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "powerfmt"
 version = "0.2.0"
@@ -2122,6 +2281,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "wasm-bindgen",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "stable_deref_trait"
+version = "1.2.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "6ce2be8dc25455e1f91df71bfa12ad37d7af1092ae736f3a6cd0e37bc7810596"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "stash-clipboard"
 version = "0.3.6"
@@ -2139,6 +2304,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "inquire",
  "libc",
  "log",
+ "mime-sniffer",
  "notify-rust",
  "ratatui",
  "regex",
@@ -2210,6 +2376,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "unicode-ident",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "synstructure"
+version = "0.13.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "728a70f3dbaf5bab7f0c4b1ac8d7ae5ea60a4b5549c8a5914361c99147a709d2"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.117",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tauri-winrt-notification"
 version = "0.7.2"
@@ -2368,6 +2545,16 @@ version = "0.1.8"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "7694e1cfe791f8d31026952abf09c69ca6f6fa4e1a1229e18988f06a04a12dca"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tinystr"
+version = "0.8.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "42d3e9c45c09de15d06dd8acf5f4e0e399e85927b7f00711024eb7ae10fa4869"
+dependencies = [
+ "displaydoc",
+ "zerovec",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "toml_datetime"
 version = "0.7.5+spec-1.1.0"
@@ -2514,6 +2701,24 @@ version = "0.2.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "b4ac048d71ede7ee76d585517add45da530660ef4390e49b098733c6e897f254"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "url"
+version = "2.5.8"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ff67a8a4397373c3ef660812acab3268222035010ab8680ec4215f38ba3d0eed"
+dependencies = [
+ "form_urlencoded",
+ "idna",
+ "percent-encoding",
+ "serde",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "utf8_iter"
+version = "1.0.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b6c140620e7ffbb22c2dee59cafe6084a59b5ffc27a8859a5f0d494b5d52b6be"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "utf8parse"
 version = "0.2.2"
@@ -2953,6 +3158,35 @@ dependencies = [
  "wayland-protocols-wlr",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "writeable"
+version = "0.6.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9edde0db4769d2dc68579893f2306b26c6ecfbe0ef499b013d731b7b9247e0b9"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "yoke"
+version = "0.8.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "72d6e5c6afb84d73944e5cedb052c4680d5657337201555f9f2a16b7406d4954"
+dependencies = [
+ "stable_deref_trait",
+ "yoke-derive",
+ "zerofrom",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "yoke-derive"
+version = "0.8.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b659052874eb698efe5b9e8cf382204678a0086ebf46982b79d6ca3182927e5d"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.117",
+ "synstructure",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "zbus"
 version = "5.13.2"
@@ -3014,6 +3248,60 @@ dependencies = [
  "zvariant",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "zerofrom"
+version = "0.1.6"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "50cc42e0333e05660c3587f3bf9d0478688e15d870fab3346451ce7f8c9fbea5"
+dependencies = [
+ "zerofrom-derive",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "zerofrom-derive"
+version = "0.1.6"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d71e5d6e06ab090c67b5e44993ec16b72dcbaabc526db883a360057678b48502"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.117",
+ "synstructure",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "zerotrie"
+version = "0.2.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "2a59c17a5562d507e4b54960e8569ebee33bee890c70aa3fe7b97e85a9fd7851"
+dependencies = [
+ "displaydoc",
+ "yoke",
+ "zerofrom",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "zerovec"
+version = "0.11.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "6c28719294829477f525be0186d13efa9a3c602f7ec202ca9e353d310fb9a002"
+dependencies = [
+ "yoke",
+ "zerofrom",
+ "zerovec-derive",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "zerovec-derive"
+version = "0.11.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "eadce39539ca5cb3985590102671f2567e659fca9666581ad3411d59207951f3"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.117",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "zmij"
 version = "1.0.16"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index a828573..0a6abd5 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ imagesize             = "0.14.0"
 inquire               = { version = "0.9.4", default-features = false, features = [ "crossterm" ] }
 libc                  = "0.2.182"
 log                   = "0.4.29"
+mime-sniffer          = "0.1.3"
 notify-rust           = { version = "4.12.0", optional = true }
 ratatui               = "0.30.0"
 regex                 = "1.12.3"
diff --git a/src/db/mod.rs b/src/db/mod.rs
index ae8d814..5bbfffb 100644
--- a/src/db/mod.rs
+++ b/src/db/mod.rs
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ use std::{
 };
 
 use base64::prelude::*;
-use log::{debug, error, warn};
+use log::{debug, error, info, warn};
+use mime_sniffer::MimeTypeSniffer;
 use regex::Regex;
 use rusqlite::{Connection, OptionalExtension, params};
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
@@ -1065,26 +1066,14 @@ pub fn preview_entry(data: &[u8], mime: Option<&str>, width: u32) -> String {
     }
   }
 
-  // For non-text data, use lossy conversion
-  let s = String::from_utf8_lossy(data);
-  truncate(s.trim(), width as usize, "…")
-}
-
-pub fn truncate(s: &str, max: usize, ellip: &str) -> String {
-  let char_count = s.chars().count();
-  if char_count > max {
-    let mut result = String::with_capacity(max * 4 + ellip.len()); // UTF-8 worst case
-    let mut char_iter = s.chars();
-    for _ in 0..max {
-      if let Some(c) = char_iter.next() {
-        result.push(c);
-      }
-    }
-    result.push_str(ellip);
-    result
-  } else {
-    s.to_string()
+  // For non-text/non-image data, try to sniff the MIME type
+  if let Some(sniffed) = data.sniff_mime_type() {
+    return format!("[[ binary data {} {} ]]", size_str(data.len()), sniffed);
   }
+
+  // Shouldn't reach here if MIME is properly set, but just in case
+  info!("Mimetype sniffing failed, omitting");
+  format!("[[ binary data {} ]]", size_str(data.len()))
 }
 
 pub fn size_str(size: usize) -> String {
@@ -1963,6 +1952,15 @@ mod tests {
     assert_eq!(size_str(1024 * 1024), "1 MiB");
   }
 
+  #[test]
+  fn test_preview_entry_binary_sniffed() {
+    // PDF magic bytes
+    let data = b"%PDF-1.4 fake pdf content here for testing";
+    let preview = preview_entry(data, None, 100);
+    assert!(preview.contains("binary data"));
+    assert!(preview.contains("application/pdf"));
+  }
+
   #[test]
   fn test_copy_entry_returns_data() {
     let db = test_db();