diff --git a/src/handlers/video.rs b/src/handlers/video.rs
index 42bc204..f9f4e64 100644
--- a/src/handlers/video.rs
+++ b/src/handlers/video.rs
@@ -96,13 +96,10 @@ pub async fn generate_video(
         return HttpResponse::BadRequest().finish();
     };
 
-    // Build the rel_path used to look up the row.
+    // Build the rel_path used to look up the row. Forward-slash normalized
+    // so the lookup matches DB rows on Windows — see `rel_path_for_lookup`.
     let full_path_str = full_path.to_string_lossy().to_string();
-    let rel_path = full_path_str
-        .strip_prefix(&resolved_root)
-        .unwrap_or(full_path_str.as_str())
-        .trim_start_matches(['/', '\\'])
-        .to_string();
+    let rel_path = rel_path_for_lookup(&full_path_str, &resolved_root);
 
     // DB lookup first. Cheap and avoids re-reading the file off disk for
     // already-ingested videos.
@@ -284,6 +281,23 @@ fn is_valid_hash(s: &str) -> bool {
     s.len() == 64 && s.bytes().all(|b| b.is_ascii_hexdigit())
 }
 
+/// Compute the forward-slash `rel_path` used to look up a video's
+/// `image_exif` row, from its absolute path string and the library root.
+///
+/// Normalizing to forward slashes is essential on Windows: `file_scan`
+/// stores rel_paths forward-slash regardless of OS, but a raw strip of a
+/// backslash Windows path (`Z:\...\pic\Melissa\clip.mp4`) yields
+/// `Melissa\clip.mp4`. `get_exif_batch` does an exact match with no
+/// normalization, so the backslash form misses and the handler falls back
+/// to re-hashing the entire file on every request.
+fn rel_path_for_lookup(full_path_str: &str, resolved_root: &str) -> String {
+    full_path_str
+        .strip_prefix(resolved_root)
+        .unwrap_or(full_path_str)
+        .trim_start_matches(['/', '\\'])
+        .replace('\\', "/")
+}
+
 /// Allowed file names inside a hash dir. `playlist.m3u8` plus segment
 /// files matching the `segment_NNN.ts` template that `PlaylistGenerator`
 /// writes via `hls_paths::SEGMENT_TEMPLATE`. Anything else (including
@@ -570,6 +584,63 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!is_allowed_hls_filename(""));
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn rel_path_for_lookup_normalizes_windows_separators() {
+        // Windows: backslash root + backslash full path. The stored row is
+        // forward-slash (`Melissa/clip.mp4`), so without normalization the
+        // lookup misses and the handler re-hashes the whole file.
+        assert_eq!(
+            rel_path_for_lookup(r"Z:\Media\pic\Melissa\clip.mp4", r"Z:\Media\pic"),
+            "Melissa/clip.mp4"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn rel_path_for_lookup_handles_unix_separators() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            rel_path_for_lookup("/media/pic/Melissa/clip.mp4", "/media/pic"),
+            "Melissa/clip.mp4"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn rel_path_for_lookup_file_at_root_has_no_separator() {
+        // A file directly in the library root has no internal separator, so
+        // the bug never manifested here — guard against a regression anyway.
+        assert_eq!(
+            rel_path_for_lookup(r"Z:\Media\pic\clip.mp4", r"Z:\Media\pic"),
+            "clip.mp4"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            rel_path_for_lookup("/media/pic/clip.mp4", "/media/pic"),
+            "clip.mp4"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn rel_path_for_lookup_strips_leading_separators() {
+        // Both separator styles are trimmed from the front after the root
+        // is stripped, regardless of which form the join produced.
+        assert_eq!(
+            rel_path_for_lookup(r"Z:\Media\pic\sub\a.mp4", r"Z:\Media\pic"),
+            "sub/a.mp4"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            rel_path_for_lookup("/media/pic//sub/a.mp4", "/media/pic"),
+            "sub/a.mp4"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn rel_path_for_lookup_falls_back_when_root_does_not_match() {
+        // If the root doesn't prefix the path (e.g. a stale mount), we keep
+        // the whole path but still normalize separators rather than panic.
+        assert_eq!(
+            rel_path_for_lookup(r"D:\other\Melissa\clip.mp4", r"Z:\Media\pic"),
+            "D:/other/Melissa/clip.mp4"
+        );
+    }
+
     fn make_token() -> String {
         let claims = Claims::valid_user("1".to_string());
         jsonwebtoken::encode(