diff --git a/src/zen/sync/ZenSpacesSyncApplier.sys.mjs b/src/zen/sync/ZenSpacesSyncApplier.sys.mjs
index b2f5dfa9a..7d0cd2764 100644
--- a/src/zen/sync/ZenSpacesSyncApplier.sys.mjs
+++ b/src/zen/sync/ZenSpacesSyncApplier.sys.mjs
@@ -576,9 +576,11 @@ class nsZenSpacesSyncApplier {
       }
     }
     tab.zenStaticIcon = data.hasStaticIcon && icon ? icon : undefined;
-    // Compare normalized: setIcon rewraps svg data: icons into
-    // moz-remote-image urls when writing the attribute.
-    if (icon && syncableIconUrl(tab.getAttribute("image")) !== icon) {
+    if (
+      icon &&
+      (data.hasStaticIcon || !tab.linkedPanel) &&
+      syncableIconUrl(tab.getAttribute("image")) !== icon
+    ) {
       try {
         win.gBrowser.setIcon(tab, icon);
         lazy.TabStateCache.update(tab.linkedBrowser.permanentKey, {
diff --git a/src/zen/sync/ZenSpacesSyncModel.sys.mjs b/src/zen/sync/ZenSpacesSyncModel.sys.mjs
index 131484096..5c7771503 100644
--- a/src/zen/sync/ZenSpacesSyncModel.sys.mjs
+++ b/src/zen/sync/ZenSpacesSyncModel.sys.mjs
@@ -231,7 +231,11 @@ class nsZenSpacesSyncModel {
     if (!url || url === "about:blank") {
       return null;
     }
-    const icon = syncableIconUrl(tabData.image || initial?.image || "");
+    const icon = syncableIconUrl(
+      (tabData.zenHasStaticIcon
+        ? tabData.image
+        : initial?.image || tabData.image) || ""
+    );
     return { url, title: title || "", icon };
   }