diff --git a/core/includes/file.inc b/core/includes/file.inc
index 16ed619..a16a23d 100644
--- a/core/includes/file.inc
+++ b/core/includes/file.inc
@@ -324,6 +324,19 @@ function file_default_scheme() {
 }
 
 /**
+ * Gets the file stream implementation for derived image style files.
+ *
+ * @param $original_scheme
+ *   The file scheme of the original image, used as a default.
+ *
+ * @return
+ *   'public', 'private' or any other file scheme.
+ */
+function file_image_style_scheme($original_scheme = NULL) {
+  return variable_get('file_image_style_scheme', ($original_scheme) ? $original_scheme : file_default_scheme());
+}
+
+/**
  * Normalizes a URI by making it syntactically correct.
  *
  * A stream is referenced as "scheme://target".
diff --git a/core/modules/image/image.module b/core/modules/image/image.module
index 315f99a..10e2dcf 100644
--- a/core/modules/image/image.module
+++ b/core/modules/image/image.module
@@ -890,7 +890,8 @@ function image_style_path($style_name, $uri) {
     $path = $uri;
     $scheme = file_default_scheme();
   }
-  return $scheme . '://styles/' . $style_name . '/' . $scheme . '/' . $path;
+  $image_style_scheme = file_image_style_scheme($scheme);
+  return $image_style_scheme . '://styles/' . $style_name . '/' . $scheme . '/' . $path;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/core/modules/system/system.admin.inc b/core/modules/system/system.admin.inc
index c55289c..9226162 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/system.admin.inc
+++ b/core/modules/system/system.admin.inc
@@ -1756,6 +1756,13 @@ function system_file_system_settings() {
       '#options' => $options,
       '#description' => t('This setting is used as the preferred download method. The use of public files is more efficient, but does not provide any access control.'),
     );
+    $form['file_image_style_scheme'] = array(
+      '#type' => 'radios',
+      '#title' => t('Derived image download method'),
+      '#default_value' => variable_get('file_image_style_scheme', ''),
+      '#options' => array_merge(array('' => t('Same as original image')), $options),
+      '#description' => t('This setting is used for the location of images derived by image style presets.'),
+    );
   }
 
   return system_settings_form($form);