diff --git a/beetsplug/fetchart.py b/beetsplug/fetchart.py
index 70477a624..ad90b380c 100644
--- a/beetsplug/fetchart.py
+++ b/beetsplug/fetchart.py
@@ -317,12 +317,26 @@ class CoverArtArchive(RemoteArtSource):
         """Return the Cover Art Archive and Cover Art Archive release group URLs
         using album MusicBrainz release ID and release group ID.
         """
+
+        # Cover Art Archive API offers pre-resized thumbnails at several sizes.
+        # If the maxwidth config matches one of the already available sizes
+        # fetch it directly intead of fetching the full sized image and
+        # resizing it.
+        release_url = self.URL
+        group_url = self.GROUP_URL
+        valid_thumbnail_sizes = [250, 500, 1200]
+        if plugin.maxwidth in valid_thumbnail_sizes:
+            size_suffix = "-" + str(plugin.maxwidth)
+            release_url += size_suffix
+            group_url += size_suffix
+
         if 'release' in self.match_by and album.mb_albumid:
-            yield self._candidate(url=self.URL.format(mbid=album.mb_albumid),
-                                  match=Candidate.MATCH_EXACT)
+            yield self._candidate(
+                url=release_url.format(mbid=album.mb_albumid),
+                                       match=Candidate.MATCH_EXACT)
         if 'releasegroup' in self.match_by and album.mb_releasegroupid:
             yield self._candidate(
-                url=self.GROUP_URL.format(mbid=album.mb_releasegroupid),
+                url=group_url.format(mbid=album.mb_releasegroupid),
                 match=Candidate.MATCH_FALLBACK)
 
 
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 453d22305..5bc5c59cc 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -214,6 +214,9 @@ Fixes:
   results or fetched lyrics
   :bug:`2805`
 * Adapt to breaking changes in Python's ``ast`` module in 3.8
+* :doc:`/plugins/fetchart`: Fetch pre-resized thumbnails from Cover Art Archive
+  if the ``maxwidth`` option matches one of the sizes supported by the Cover
+  Art Archive API.
 
 For plugin developers: