diff --git a/packages/react-native/Libraries/Image/RCTImageLoader.mm b/packages/react-native/Libraries/Image/RCTImageLoader.mm
index 68a12d351227ef..165c711d1c6724 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/Libraries/Image/RCTImageLoader.mm
+++ b/packages/react-native/Libraries/Image/RCTImageLoader.mm
@@ -477,7 +477,10 @@ - (RCTImageURLLoaderRequest *)_loadImageOrDataWithURLRequest:(NSURLRequest *)req
 
     // Add missing png extension
     if (request.URL.fileURL && request.URL.pathExtension.length == 0) {
-      mutableRequest.URL = [request.URL URLByAppendingPathExtension:@"png"];
+      NSURL *pngRequestURL = [request.URL URLByAppendingPathExtension:@"png"];
+      if ([[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:pngRequestURL.path]) {
+        mutableRequest.URL = pngRequestURL;
+      }
     }
     if (_redirectDelegate != nil) {
       mutableRequest.URL = [_redirectDelegate redirectAssetsURL:mutableRequest.URL];