diff --git a/beets/mediafile.py b/beets/mediafile.py
index 7522acf0ab..f580dccfa1 100644
--- a/beets/mediafile.py
+++ b/beets/mediafile.py
@@ -326,7 +326,11 @@ def __init__(self, data, desc=None, type=None):
         self.data = data
         self.desc = desc
         if isinstance(type, int):
-            type = list(ImageType)[type]
+            try:
+                type = list(ImageType)[type]
+            except IndexError:
+                log.warn("ignoring unknown image type index {}", type)
+                type = ImageType.other
         self.type = type
 
     @property
diff --git a/test/rsrc/image_unknown_type.mp3 b/test/rsrc/image_unknown_type.mp3
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..441adf62ac
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/rsrc/image_unknown_type.mp3 differ
diff --git a/test/test_mediafile.py b/test/test_mediafile.py
index c685cdd94c..74f6fe8c55 100644
--- a/test/test_mediafile.py
+++ b/test/test_mediafile.py
@@ -730,6 +730,10 @@ class MP3Test(ReadWriteTestBase, PartialTestMixin,
         'channels': 1,
     }
 
+    def test_unknown_apic_type(self):
+        mediafile = self._mediafile_fixture('image_unknown_type')
+        self.assertEqual(mediafile.images[0].type, ImageType.other)
+
 
 class MP4Test(ReadWriteTestBase, PartialTestMixin,
               ImageStructureTestMixin, unittest.TestCase):