diff --git a/homeassistant/components/mpd/media_player.py b/homeassistant/components/mpd/media_player.py
index d2c6b7eeaf3..4d3df8f00ca 100644
--- a/homeassistant/components/mpd/media_player.py
+++ b/homeassistant/components/mpd/media_player.py
@@ -119,6 +119,9 @@ class MpdDevice(MediaPlayerEntity):
         self._muted_volume = None
         self._media_position_updated_at = None
         self._media_position = None
+        self._media_image_hash = None
+        # Track if the song changed so image doesn't have to be loaded every update.
+        self._media_image_file = None
         self._commands = None
 
         # set up MPD client
@@ -149,6 +152,7 @@ class MpdDevice(MediaPlayerEntity):
         """Fetch status from MPD."""
         self._status = await self._client.status()
         self._currentsong = await self._client.currentsong()
+        await self._async_update_media_image_hash()
 
         if (position := self._status.get("elapsed")) is None:
             position = self._status.get("time")
@@ -265,16 +269,46 @@ class MpdDevice(MediaPlayerEntity):
     @property
     def media_image_hash(self):
         """Hash value for media image."""
-        if file := self._currentsong.get("file"):
-            return hashlib.sha256(file.encode("utf-8")).hexdigest()[:16]
-
-        return None
+        return self._media_image_hash
 
     async def async_get_media_image(self):
         """Fetch media image of current playing track."""
         if not (file := self._currentsong.get("file")):
             return None, None
+        response = await self._async_get_file_image_response(file)
+        if response is None:
+            return None, None
 
+        image = bytes(response["binary"])
+        mime = response.get(
+            "type", "image/png"
+        )  # readpicture has type, albumart does not
+        return (image, mime)
+
+    async def _async_update_media_image_hash(self):
+        """Update the hash value for the media image."""
+        file = self._currentsong.get("file")
+
+        if file == self._media_image_file:
+            return
+
+        if (
+            file is not None
+            and (response := await self._async_get_file_image_response(file))
+            is not None
+        ):
+            self._media_image_hash = hashlib.sha256(
+                bytes(response["binary"])
+            ).hexdigest()[:16]
+        else:
+            # If there is no image, this hash has to be None, else the media player component
+            # assumes there is an image and returns an error trying to load it and the
+            # frontend media control card breaks.
+            self._media_image_hash = None
+
+        self._media_image_file = file
+
+    async def _async_get_file_image_response(self, file):
         # not all MPD implementations and versions support the `albumart` and `fetchpicture` commands
         can_albumart = "albumart" in self._commands
         can_readpicture = "readpicture" in self._commands
@@ -303,14 +337,11 @@ class MpdDevice(MediaPlayerEntity):
                         error,
                     )
 
+        # response can be an empty object if there is no image
         if not response:
-            return None, None
+            return None
 
-        image = bytes(response.get("binary"))
-        mime = response.get(
-            "type", "image/png"
-        )  # readpicture has type, albumart does not
-        return (image, mime)
+        return response
 
     @property
     def volume_level(self):