diff --git a/js/components/ascribe_detail/media_container.js b/js/components/ascribe_detail/media_container.js
index c414dee2..de6d8976 100644
--- a/js/components/ascribe_detail/media_container.js
+++ b/js/components/ascribe_detail/media_container.js
@@ -68,19 +68,21 @@ let MediaContainer = React.createClass({
 
     isVideoEncoding() {
         const { content: { digital_work: digitalWork } } = this.props;
-        return digitalWork.mime === 'video' && digitalWork.isEncoding === 'number' && digitalWork.isEncoding !== 100;
+        return digitalWork.mime === 'video' && typeof digitalWork.isEncoding === 'number' && digitalWork.isEncoding !== 100;
     },
 
     isImageEncoding() {
         const { content: { thumbnail, digital_work: digitalWork } } = this.props;
-        const thumbnailFileExtension = extractFileExtensionFromUrl(thumbnail.thumbnail_sizes['600x600']);
+        const thumbnailToCheck = thumbnail.thumbnail_sizes && thumbnail.thumbnail_sizes['600x600'] ? thumbnail.thumbnail_sizes['600x600']
+                                                                                                   : thumbnail.url;
+        const thumbnailFileExtension = extractFileExtensionFromUrl(thumbnailToCheck);
 
         return digitalWork.mime === 'image' && (thumbnailFileExtension === 'tif' || thumbnailFileExtension === 'tiff');
     },
 
     getEncodingMessage() {
         if (this.isVideoEncoding()) {
-            const { digital_work: digitalWork } = this.props;
+            const { content: { digital_work: digitalWork } } = this.props;
 
             return (
                 <div className="ascribe-detail-header ascribe-media-player">
diff --git a/js/components/ascribe_media/media_player.js b/js/components/ascribe_media/media_player.js
index 4cfb4bc2..888e148f 100644
--- a/js/components/ascribe_media/media_player.js
+++ b/js/components/ascribe_media/media_player.js
@@ -68,10 +68,10 @@ let Image = React.createClass({
 
     render() {
         const { url, thumbnail } = this.props;
-        const urlFileExtension = extractFileExtensionFromUrl(url);
 
         // TIFFs can not be displayed by the browser, so we just display their thumbnail
-        if (url && urlFileExtension !== 'tif' && urlFileExtension !== 'tiff') {
+        // url is not necessarily defined, which would cause this function to fail
+        if (url && extractFileExtensionFromUrl(url) !== 'tif' && extractFileExtensionFromUrl(url) !== 'tiff') {
             return (
                 <img className="shmui-ascribe" src={thumbnail} data-large-src={url} />
             );