diff --git a/src/components/views/messages/MFileBody.tsx b/src/components/views/messages/MFileBody.tsx
index 4de4c4c804..ccf5fe6745 100644
--- a/src/components/views/messages/MFileBody.tsx
+++ b/src/components/views/messages/MFileBody.tsx
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import { presentableTextForFile } from "../../../utils/FileUtils";
 import { IMediaEventContent } from "../../../customisations/models/IMediaEventContent";
 import { IBodyProps } from "./IBodyProps";
 import { FileDownloader } from "../../../utils/FileDownloader";
+import TextWithTooltip from "../elements/TextWithTooltip";
 
 export let DOWNLOAD_ICON_URL; // cached copy of the download.svg asset for the sandboxed iframe later on
 
@@ -202,9 +203,12 @@ export default class MFileBody extends React.Component<IProps, IState> {
             placeholder = (
                 <AccessibleButton className="mx_MediaBody mx_MFileBody_info" onClick={this.onPlaceholderClick}>
                     <span className="mx_MFileBody_info_icon" />
-                    <span className="mx_MFileBody_info_filename">
-                        { presentableTextForFile(content, _t("Attachment"), false) }
-                    </span>
+                    <TextWithTooltip
+                        className="mx_MFileBody_info_filename"
+                        tooltip={presentableTextForFile(content, _t("Attachment"), false)}
+                    >
+                        { presentableTextForFile(content, _t("Attachment"), true, true) }
+                    </TextWithTooltip>
                 </AccessibleButton>
             );
         }
diff --git a/src/utils/FileUtils.ts b/src/utils/FileUtils.ts
index 355fa2135c..c83f2ed417 100644
--- a/src/utils/FileUtils.ts
+++ b/src/utils/FileUtils.ts
@@ -26,12 +26,14 @@ import { _t } from '../languageHandler';
  * @param {IMediaEventContent} content The "content" key of the matrix event.
  * @param {string} fallbackText The fallback text
  * @param {boolean} withSize Whether to include size information. Default true.
+ * @param {boolean} shortened Ensure the extension of the file name is visible. Default false.
  * @return {string} the human readable link text for the attachment.
  */
 export function presentableTextForFile(
     content: IMediaEventContent,
     fallbackText = _t("Attachment"),
     withSize = true,
+    shortened = false,
 ): string {
     let text = fallbackText;
     if (content.body && content.body.length > 0) {
@@ -40,6 +42,21 @@ export function presentableTextForFile(
         text = content.body;
     }
 
+    // We shorten to 15 characters somewhat arbitrarily, and assume most files
+    // will have a 3 character (plus full stop) extension. The goal is to knock
+    // the label down to 15-25 characters, not perfect accuracy.
+    if (shortened && text.length > 19) {
+        const parts = text.split('.');
+        let fileName = parts.slice(0, parts.length - 1).join('.').substring(0, 15);
+        const extension = parts[parts.length - 1];
+
+        // Trim off any full stops from the file name to avoid a case where we
+        // add an ellipsis that looks really funky.
+        fileName = fileName.replace(/\.*$/g, '');
+
+        text = `${fileName}...${extension}`;
+    }
+
     if (content.info && content.info.size && withSize) {
         // If we know the size of the file then add it as human readable
         // string to the end of the link text so that the user knows how