diff --git a/apps/dav/lib/Connector/Sabre/File.php b/apps/dav/lib/Connector/Sabre/File.php
index 8e70752c63580..6c37998499524 100644
--- a/apps/dav/lib/Connector/Sabre/File.php
+++ b/apps/dav/lib/Connector/Sabre/File.php
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ class File extends Node implements IFile {
 	protected IL10N $l10n;
 
 	/** @var array<string, FileMetadata> */
-	private array $metadata;
+	private array $metadata = [];
 
 	/**
 	 * Sets up the node, expects a full path name
diff --git a/apps/dav/lib/Connector/Sabre/FilesPlugin.php b/apps/dav/lib/Connector/Sabre/FilesPlugin.php
index b68976f6ed890..dedf2452d99d2 100644
--- a/apps/dav/lib/Connector/Sabre/FilesPlugin.php
+++ b/apps/dav/lib/Connector/Sabre/FilesPlugin.php
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 use OCP\IPreview;
 use OCP\IRequest;
 use OCP\IUserSession;
+use Psr\Log\LoggerInterface;
 use Sabre\DAV\Exception\Forbidden;
 use Sabre\DAV\Exception\NotFound;
 use Sabre\DAV\IFile;
@@ -448,8 +449,14 @@ public function handleGetProperties(PropFind $propFind, \Sabre\DAV\INode $node)
 				if ($node->hasMetadata('size')) {
 					$sizeMetadata = $node->getMetadata('size');
 				} else {
-					// TODO fetch metadata manually in that case
-					// or is that always the case?
+					// This code path should not be called since we try to preload
+					// the metadata when loading the folder or the search results
+					// in one go
+					$metadataManager = \OC::$server->get(IMetadataManager::class);
+					$sizeMetadata = $metadataManager->fetchMetadataFor('size', [$node->getId()])[$node->getId()];
+
+					// TODO would be nice to display this in the profiler...
+					\OC::$server->get(LoggerInterface::class)->warning('Inefficient fetching of metadata');
 				}
 
 				return json_encode($sizeMetadata->getMetadata());
diff --git a/apps/dav/lib/Files/FileSearchBackend.php b/apps/dav/lib/Files/FileSearchBackend.php
index 7d47205ea5865..d5701e52fa8e3 100644
--- a/apps/dav/lib/Files/FileSearchBackend.php
+++ b/apps/dav/lib/Files/FileSearchBackend.php
@@ -30,8 +30,10 @@
 use OC\Files\Search\SearchOrder;
 use OC\Files\Search\SearchQuery;
 use OC\Files\View;
+use OC\Metadata\IMetadataManager;
 use OCA\DAV\Connector\Sabre\CachingTree;
 use OCA\DAV\Connector\Sabre\Directory;
+use OCA\DAV\Connector\Sabre\File;
 use OCA\DAV\Connector\Sabre\FilesPlugin;
 use OCA\DAV\Connector\Sabre\TagsPlugin;
 use OCP\Files\Cache\ICacheEntry;
@@ -44,6 +46,7 @@
 use OCP\IUser;
 use OCP\Share\IManager;
 use Sabre\DAV\Exception\NotFound;
+use Sabre\DAV\INode;
 use SearchDAV\Backend\ISearchBackend;
 use SearchDAV\Backend\SearchPropertyDefinition;
 use SearchDAV\Backend\SearchResult;
@@ -137,6 +140,32 @@ public function getPropertyDefinitionsForScope($href, $path) {
 		];
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * @param INode[] $nodes
+	 * @param string[] $requestProperties
+	 */
+	public function preloadPropertyFor(array $nodes, array $requestProperties): void {
+		if (in_array(FilesPlugin::FILE_METADATA_SIZE, $requestProperties, true)) {
+			// Preloading of the metadata
+			$fileIds = [];
+			foreach ($nodes as $node) {
+				if (str_starts_with($node->getFileInfo()->getMimeType(), 'image')) {
+					/** @var File $node */
+					$fileIds[] = $node->getFileInfo()->getId();
+				}
+			}
+			/** @var IMetaDataManager $metadataManager */
+			$metadataManager = \OC::$server->get(IMetadataManager::class);
+			$preloadedMetadata = $metadataManager->fetchMetadataFor('size', $fileIds);
+			foreach ($nodes as $node) {
+				if (str_starts_with($node->getFileInfo()->getMimeType(), 'image')) {
+					/** @var File $child */
+					$node->setMetadata('size', $preloadedMetadata[$node->getFileInfo()->getId()]);
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * @param Query $search
 	 * @return SearchResult[]
@@ -254,8 +283,6 @@ private function getSearchResultProperty(SearchResult $result, SearchPropertyDef
 				return $node->getSize();
 			case FilesPlugin::INTERNAL_FILEID_PROPERTYNAME:
 				return $node->getInternalFileId();
-			case FilesPlugin::FILE_METADATA_SIZE:
-				return $node->getMetadata('size');
 			default:
 				return null;
 		}
diff --git a/apps/dav/lib/Files/LazySearchBackend.php b/apps/dav/lib/Files/LazySearchBackend.php
index d84c11306e360..bed91cdeffa8b 100644
--- a/apps/dav/lib/Files/LazySearchBackend.php
+++ b/apps/dav/lib/Files/LazySearchBackend.php
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
  */
 namespace OCA\DAV\Files;
 
+use Sabre\DAV\INode;
 use SearchDAV\Backend\ISearchBackend;
 use SearchDAV\Query\Query;
 
@@ -66,4 +67,10 @@ public function search(Query $query) {
 			return [];
 		}
 	}
+
+	public function preloadPropertyFor(array $nodes, array $requestProperties): void {
+		if ($this->backend) {
+			$this->backend->preloadPropertyFor($nodes, $requestProperties);
+		}
+	}
 }