diff --git a/internal/db/migrations/0097_requeue_short_track_prints.down.sql b/internal/db/migrations/0097_requeue_short_track_prints.down.sql
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f1513b02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/db/migrations/0097_requeue_short_track_prints.down.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+-- The cleared rows were failures; the workers write them again, or better.
+-- Nothing to undo.
+SELECT 1;
diff --git a/internal/db/migrations/0097_requeue_short_track_prints.up.sql b/internal/db/migrations/0097_requeue_short_track_prints.up.sql
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..55022235
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/db/migrations/0097_requeue_short_track_prints.up.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+-- #6178: the image's fpcalc exits 3 ("Error decoding audio frame (End of
+-- file)") on every file shorter than the span it is asked for, so every track
+-- under two minutes failed both prints. The failure was stored as a verdict,
+-- and a verdict is not retried until the file changes. fpcalcReadToEnd now
+-- keeps those prints; clear the failures so the workers take them again.
+
+-- The AcoustID lookup's queue takes a track with no lookup row.
+DELETE FROM track_acoustid_lookups
+ WHERE state = 'failed'
+   AND detail LIKE '%Error decoding audio frame (End of file)%';
+
+-- The fingerprint backfill's queue takes a track with no fingerprint row. A
+-- NULL chromaprint is always a verdict (an inconclusive attempt stores
+-- nothing), and on a track no longer than the span it was taken at it is this
+-- failure. A track that is damaged fails again and is stamped again.
+DELETE FROM track_fingerprints f
+ USING tracks t
+ WHERE f.track_id = t.id
+   AND f.chromaprint IS NULL
+   AND t.duration_ms <= f.chromaprint_length_sec * 1000;
diff --git a/internal/library/fingerprint.go b/internal/library/fingerprint.go
index 8b69449a..c9f5be57 100644
--- a/internal/library/fingerprint.go
+++ b/internal/library/fingerprint.go
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ func computeAudioStreamSHA256(ctx context.Context, path string) ([]byte, error)
 // lengthSec seconds of the file.
 func computeChromaprint(ctx context.Context, path string, lengthSec int32) ([]int32, error) {
 	out, err := runFingerprintTool(ctx, "fpcalc", fpcalcArgs(path, int(lengthSec)))
-	if err != nil {
+	if err != nil && !fpcalcReadToEnd(err, out, int(lengthSec)) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	return parseFpcalcRaw(out)
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ func computeChromaprint(ctx context.Context, path string, lengthSec int32) ([]in
 // rejects as a verdict.
 func computeLookupFingerprint(ctx context.Context, path string) (lookupFingerprint, error) {
 	out, err := runFingerprintTool(ctx, "fpcalc", fpcalcLookupArgs(path))
-	if err != nil {
+	if err != nil && !fpcalcReadToEnd(err, out, lookupFingerprintLengthSec) {
 		return lookupFingerprint{}, err
 	}
 	return parseFpcalcCompressed(out)
@@ -289,6 +289,9 @@ func computeLookupFingerprint(ctx context.Context, path string) (lookupFingerpri
 // fingerprint of a damaged file is not that file's identity. Stored, it would
 // score against a healthy copy over whatever prefix survived, and could group
 // or fail to group either way. Absent is better than wrong.
+//
+// A tool that ran and exited non-zero returns its stdout beside the
+// *toolExitError, for the one exit 3 that is not damage (fpcalcReadToEnd).
 func runFingerprintTool(ctx context.Context, name string, args []string) ([]byte, error) {
 	runCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, fingerprintTimeout)
 	defer cancel()
@@ -311,11 +314,58 @@ func runFingerprintTool(ctx context.Context, name string, args []string) ([]byte
 	}
 	var exitErr *exec.ExitError
 	if errors.As(err, &exitErr) {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s exited %d: %s", name, exitErr.ExitCode(), stderrTail(exitErr.Stderr))
+		return out, &toolExitError{name: name, code: exitErr.ExitCode(), stderr: stderrTail(exitErr.Stderr)}
 	}
 	return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s: %w", name, err)
 }
 
+// toolExitError is a fingerprint tool that ran and exited non-zero: a verdict
+// on the file, unlike a stall or a missing tool.
+type toolExitError struct {
+	name   string
+	code   int
+	stderr []byte // the tail, as stderrTail keeps it
+}
+
+func (e *toolExitError) Error() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s exited %d: %s", e.name, e.code, e.stderr)
+}
+
+// fpcalcExitPartial is fpcalc's exit for "reading failed, but here is a
+// fingerprint of what I got".
+const fpcalcExitPartial = 3
+
+// fpcalcReadToEnd reports whether fpcalc's partial exit only means it decoded
+// the whole file (#6178). The image's fpcalc 1.5.1 reports the decoder's end of
+// file as "Error decoding audio frame (End of file)" and exits 3 whenever it
+// reaches the end before -length, so it failed every file shorter than the
+// span asked for: every track under two minutes, at any length setting. That
+// print covers the whole file, so it is the file's identity.
+//
+// A damaged file can stop at an end of file too. Its DURATION, the length the
+// container declares, is then longer than the span asked for, and it stays a
+// failure.
+func fpcalcReadToEnd(err error, out []byte, lengthSec int) bool {
+	var exitErr *toolExitError
+	if !errors.As(err, &exitErr) || exitErr.code != fpcalcExitPartial ||
+		!bytes.Contains(exitErr.stderr, []byte("(End of file)")) {
+		return false
+	}
+	d, ok := fpcalcDuration(out)
+	return ok && d > 0 && d <= lengthSec
+}
+
+// fpcalcDuration reads the DURATION= line of fpcalc's output, in whole seconds.
+func fpcalcDuration(out []byte) (int, bool) {
+	for _, line := range strings.Split(string(out), "\n") {
+		if v, ok := strings.CutPrefix(strings.TrimSpace(line), "DURATION="); ok {
+			d, err := strconv.Atoi(v)
+			return d, err == nil
+		}
+	}
+	return 0, false
+}
+
 // stderrTail keeps the END of a failing tool's stderr. ffmpeg and fpcalc print
 // the actual reason last, after any banner or per-frame warnings, so a cap that
 // kept the head would log the noise and drop the cause.
diff --git a/internal/library/fingerprint_test.go b/internal/library/fingerprint_test.go
index a2bf4d56..a8ec170b 100644
--- a/internal/library/fingerprint_test.go
+++ b/internal/library/fingerprint_test.go
@@ -253,3 +253,45 @@ func TestFingerprintResult_InconclusiveIfEitherHalfIs(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// fpcalc 1.5.1 exits 3 with "(End of file)" on every file shorter than the
+// span asked for (#6178). That print covers the whole file and is kept; a file
+// whose declared length runs past the span stopped early, and is not.
+func TestFpcalcReadToEnd(t *testing.T) {
+	eof := []byte("ERROR: Error decoding audio frame (End of file)")
+	out := func(sec int) []byte { return []byte(fmt.Sprintf("DURATION=%d\nFINGERPRINT=AQAB\n", sec)) }
+	for name, tc := range map[string]struct {
+		err  error
+		out  []byte
+		want bool
+	}{
+		"short file read to its end":   {&toolExitError{name: "fpcalc", code: 3, stderr: eof}, out(37), true},
+		"exactly the span":             {&toolExitError{name: "fpcalc", code: 3, stderr: eof}, out(120), true},
+		"declared longer than read":    {&toolExitError{name: "fpcalc", code: 3, stderr: eof}, out(150), false},
+		"partial for another reason":   {&toolExitError{name: "fpcalc", code: 3, stderr: []byte("ERROR: invalid data")}, out(37), false},
+		"a different exit":             {&toolExitError{name: "fpcalc", code: 2, stderr: eof}, out(37), false},
+		"no duration printed":          {&toolExitError{name: "fpcalc", code: 3, stderr: eof}, []byte("FINGERPRINT=AQAB\n"), false},
+		"not a tool exit (a stall)":    {fmt.Errorf("fpcalc: %w", errFingerprintTimeout), out(37), false},
+		"wrapped exit is still judged": {fmt.Errorf("lookup: %w", &toolExitError{name: "fpcalc", code: 3, stderr: eof}), out(37), true},
+	} {
+		if got := fpcalcReadToEnd(tc.err, tc.out, 120); got != tc.want {
+			t.Errorf("%s: fpcalcReadToEnd = %v, want %v", name, got, tc.want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// The output of a tool that exited non-zero reaches the caller, or
+// fpcalcReadToEnd has nothing to read; the message is unchanged.
+func TestRunFingerprintTool_KeepsOutputOnExit(t *testing.T) {
+	out, err := runFingerprintTool(context.Background(), "sh",
+		[]string{"-c", "echo DURATION=37; echo 'ERROR: Error decoding audio frame (End of file)' >&2; exit 3"})
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("exit 3 returned no error")
+	}
+	if want := "sh exited 3: ERROR: Error decoding audio frame (End of file)"; err.Error() != want {
+		t.Errorf("err = %q, want %q", err, want)
+	}
+	if d, ok := fpcalcDuration(out); !ok || d != 37 {
+		t.Errorf("output = %q, want the DURATION line kept", out)
+	}
+}