diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/shareupdates/server/FilePreviewer.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/shareupdates/server/FilePreviewer.java
index eb329e4..78ed98a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/shareupdates/server/FilePreviewer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/shareupdates/server/FilePreviewer.java
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 package org.gcube.portlets.user.shareupdates.server;
 
+import java.awt.Color;
 import java.awt.Dimension;
 import java.awt.Graphics2D;
 import java.awt.Image;
 import java.awt.Rectangle;
+import java.awt.Transparency;
 import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
@@ -56,7 +58,7 @@ public class FilePreviewer {
 	private static final String PDF_DEFAULT_IMAGE = "default/pdf.png";
 	private static final String GENERICFILE_DEFAULT_IMAGE = "default/default_generic.png";
 	private static final String UPLOAD_LOCATION_LOCAL = System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir");
-	
+
 	/**
 	 * these are the extension for which I have an icon image preview
 	 */
@@ -155,13 +157,20 @@ public class FilePreviewer {
 
 			out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
 
-			Thumbnails.of(path2Image)
+			// get the buffered image
+			BufferedImage bufferedImage = Thumbnails.of(path2Image).scale(1).asBufferedImage();
+
+			bufferedImage = changeBackgroundColorToWhite(bufferedImage);
+			
+			// write
+			Thumbnails.fromImages(Arrays.asList(bufferedImage))
 			.width(80)
 			.outputFormat("jpg")
 			.toOutputStream(out);
+
 		}
 		catch (IOException e) {
-			e.printStackTrace();
+			_log.warn("Thumbnail extraction failed for this reason: " + e.getMessage());
 		}
 		String httpLink = getFTPManager().uploadImageOnFTPServer(new ByteArrayInputStream(out.toByteArray()), ImageType.JPG);
 		_log.debug("\nFlushed, Image thumbnail available at: " + httpLink);
@@ -169,6 +178,28 @@ public class FilePreviewer {
 		return new LinkPreview(fileName, desc, httpUrl, mimeType, imagesUrl);
 	}
 
+	private static BufferedImage changeBackgroundColorToWhite(BufferedImage bufferedImage){
+
+		BufferedImage changedImage = null;
+		try{
+			// if the image has a transparent background color, it will be changed to white
+			if(bufferedImage.getColorModel().getTransparency() != Transparency.OPAQUE) {
+				_log.debug("Background color is going to be changed to white for the thumbnail");
+				int w = bufferedImage.getWidth();
+				int h = bufferedImage.getHeight();
+				changedImage = new BufferedImage(w, h, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
+				Graphics2D g = changedImage.createGraphics();
+				g.setColor(Color.WHITE);
+				g.fillRect(0,0,w,h);
+				g.drawRenderedImage(bufferedImage, null);
+				g.dispose(); 
+			}
+		}catch(Exception e){
+			_log.warn("Failed to change the transparent background to white for image");
+		}
+		return changedImage == null ? bufferedImage : changedImage;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * 
 	 * @param fileNameLabel thename of the file
@@ -261,7 +292,7 @@ public class FilePreviewer {
 		MediaType mediaType = detector.detect(stream, metadata);
 		return mediaType.getBaseType().toString();
 	}
-	
+
 	/**
 	 * Check if a resource at a given url exists or not. If it exists, create a file in the temp dir
 	 * of the tomcat