diff --git a/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/extend-node-type.js b/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/extend-node-type.js
index 834a81eae72b6..8f84d522f3918 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/extend-node-type.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/extend-node-type.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ const {
   GraphQLInt,
   GraphQLFloat,
   GraphQLNonNull,
+  GraphQLList,
 } = require(`gatsby/graphql`)
 const qs = require(`qs`)
 const { generateImageData } = require(`gatsby-plugin-image`)
@@ -27,6 +28,8 @@ const cacheImage = require(`./cache-image`)
 // cache is more likely to go stale than the images (which never go stale)
 // Note that the same image might be requested multiple times in the same run
 
+const validImageFormats = new Set([`jpg`, `png`, `webp`])
+
 if (process.env.GATSBY_REMOTE_CACHE) {
   console.warn(
     `Note: \`GATSBY_REMOTE_CACHE\` will be removed soon because it has been renamed to \`GATSBY_CONTENTFUL_EXPERIMENTAL_REMOTE_CACHE\``
@@ -188,6 +191,24 @@ const generateImageSource = (
   _fit, // We use resizingBehavior instead
   { jpegProgressive, quality, cropFocus, backgroundColor, resizingBehavior }
 ) => {
+  // Ensure we stay within Contentfuls Image API limits
+  if (width > CONTENTFUL_IMAGE_MAX_SIZE) {
+    height = Math.floor((height / width) * CONTENTFUL_IMAGE_MAX_SIZE)
+    width = CONTENTFUL_IMAGE_MAX_SIZE
+  }
+
+  if (height > CONTENTFUL_IMAGE_MAX_SIZE) {
+    width = Math.floor((width / height) * CONTENTFUL_IMAGE_MAX_SIZE)
+    height = CONTENTFUL_IMAGE_MAX_SIZE
+  }
+
+  if (!validImageFormats.has(toFormat)) {
+    console.warn(
+      `[gatsby-source-contentful] Invalid image format "${toFormat}". Supported types are jpg, png and webp"`
+    )
+    return undefined
+  }
+
   const src = createUrl(filename, {
     width,
     height,
@@ -778,6 +799,16 @@ exports.extendNodeType = ({ type, store, reporter }) => {
       backgroundColor: {
         type: GraphQLString,
       },
+      formats: {
+        type: GraphQLList(ImageFormatType),
+        description: stripIndent`
+            The image formats to generate. Valid values are AUTO (meaning the same format as the source image), JPG, PNG, and WEBP.
+            The default value is [AUTO, WEBP], and you should rarely need to change this. Take care if you specify JPG or PNG when you do
+            not know the formats of the source images, as this could lead to unwanted results such as converting JPEGs to PNGs. Specifying
+            both PNG and JPG is not supported and will be ignored. 
+        `,
+        defaultValue: [``, `webp`],
+      },
     })
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/schemes.js b/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/schemes.js
index 3b01e7fa26508..beabb967fa1a5 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/schemes.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/src/schemes.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const ImageFormatType = new GraphQLEnumType({
   name: `ContentfulImageFormat`,
   values: {
     NO_CHANGE: { value: `` },
+    AUTO: { value: `` },
     JPG: { value: `jpg` },
     PNG: { value: `png` },
     WEBP: { value: `webp` },