diff --git a/packages/cli/src/capture/mediaCapture.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/capture/mediaCapture.test.ts
index 10aabdf12..f87a379ee 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/capture/mediaCapture.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/capture/mediaCapture.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { existsSync, mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 import type { Browser, Page } from "puppeteer-core";
@@ -75,6 +75,55 @@ describe("Lottie capture budget", () => {
     expect(previewPage.setViewport).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(previewPage.screenshot).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
+
+  it("omits a preview path when the budget expires after Lottie readiness", async () => {
+    const dir = tempDir();
+    const lottieDir = join(dir, "assets", "lottie");
+    mkdirSync(join(dir, "extracted"), { recursive: true });
+    mkdirSync(lottieDir, { recursive: true });
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(lottieDir, "logo.json"),
+      JSON.stringify({
+        nm: "Logo",
+        w: 100,
+        h: 100,
+        fr: 30,
+        ip: 0,
+        op: 30,
+        layers: [],
+      }),
+    );
+
+    const screenshot = vi.fn(async () => undefined);
+    const previewPage = {
+      setViewport: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+      setContent: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+      evaluate: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+      waitForFunction: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+      screenshot,
+      close: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+    };
+    const browser = { newPage: vi.fn(async () => previewPage) } as unknown as Browser;
+    let budgetChecks = 0;
+
+    await renderLottiePreviews(browser, lottieDir, dir, {
+      remainingMs: () => (++budgetChecks < 4 ? 10_000 : 0),
+    });
+
+    const manifest = JSON.parse(
+      readFileSync(join(dir, "extracted", "lottie-manifest.json"), "utf-8"),
+    );
+    expect(screenshot).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(manifest).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(manifest[0]).toMatchObject({
+      file: "assets/lottie/logo.json",
+      name: "Logo",
+      width: 100,
+      height: 100,
+    });
+    expect(manifest[0]).not.toHaveProperty("preview");
+    expect(existsSync(join(lottieDir, "previews", "logo-preview.png"))).toBe(false);
+  });
 });
 
 describe("video capture live budget", () => {
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/capture/mediaCapture.ts b/packages/cli/src/capture/mediaCapture.ts
index e5add7674..8e149999d 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/capture/mediaCapture.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/capture/mediaCapture.ts
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ export async function saveLottieAnimations(
  *
  * Opens each Lottie JSON in a headless Chrome page via lottie-web,
  * seeks to ~30% through the animation, and takes a transparent screenshot.
- * Writes a lottie-manifest.json with metadata + preview paths.
+ * Writes a lottie-manifest.json with metadata and successfully rendered preview paths.
  */
 // fallow-ignore-next-line complexity
 export async function renderLottiePreviews(
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ export async function renderLottiePreviews(
 ): Promise<void> {
   const manifest: Array<{
     file: string;
-    preview: string;
+    preview?: string;
     name: string;
     width: number;
     height: number;
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ export async function renderLottiePreviews(
       const fr = raw.fr || 30;
       const dur = ((raw.op || 0) - (raw.ip || 0)) / fr;
       const previewName = file.replace(".json", "-preview.png");
+      let preview: string | undefined;
 
       // Render a mid-frame thumbnail using Puppeteer + lottie-web
       // Skip huge Lottie files for preview (CDP has a ~256MB message limit)
@@ -202,6 +203,7 @@ export async function renderLottiePreviews(
             type: "png",
             omitBackground: true,
           });
+          preview = `assets/lottie/previews/${previewName}`;
         }
       } catch {
         /* preview rendering failed — non-critical */
@@ -211,7 +213,7 @@ export async function renderLottiePreviews(
 
       manifest.push({
         file: `assets/lottie/${file}`,
-        preview: `assets/lottie/previews/${previewName}`,
+        ...(preview ? { preview } : {}),
         name: raw.nm || file,
         width: raw.w || 0,
         height: raw.h || 0,