diff --git a/server/src/services/metadata.service.ts b/server/src/services/metadata.service.ts
index de54fca904..94ccd41ff5 100644
--- a/server/src/services/metadata.service.ts
+++ b/server/src/services/metadata.service.ts
@@ -835,7 +835,11 @@ export class MetadataService extends BaseService {
     }
   }
 
-  private getDates(asset: { id: string; originalPath: string }, exifTags: ImmichTags, stats: Stats) {
+  private getDates(
+    asset: { id: string; originalPath: string; fileCreatedAt: Date },
+    exifTags: ImmichTags,
+    stats: Stats,
+  ) {
     const result = firstDateTime(exifTags);
     const tag = result?.tag;
     const dateTime = result?.dateTime;
@@ -864,7 +868,12 @@ export class MetadataService extends BaseService {
     if (!localDateTime || !dateTimeOriginal) {
       // FileCreateDate is not available on linux, likely because exiftool hasn't integrated the statx syscall yet
       // birthtime is not available in Docker on macOS, so it appears as 0
-      const earliestDate = stats.birthtimeMs ? new Date(Math.min(stats.mtimeMs, stats.birthtimeMs)) : stats.mtime;
+      const earliestDate = new Date(
+        Math.min(
+          asset.fileCreatedAt.getTime(),
+          stats.birthtimeMs ? Math.min(stats.mtimeMs, stats.birthtimeMs) : stats.mtime.getTime(),
+        ),
+      );
       this.logger.debug(
         `No exif date time found, falling back on ${earliestDate.toISOString()}, earliest of file creation and modification for asset ${asset.id}: ${asset.originalPath}`,
       );