diff --git a/file_entity.api.php b/file_entity.api.php
index a7d9e8a..6d9320f 100644
--- a/file_entity.api.php
+++ b/file_entity.api.php
@@ -110,9 +110,17 @@ function hook_file_formatter_FORMATTER_settings($form, &$form_state, $settings)
 }
 
 /**
- * @todo Add documentation.
+ * Alter file display settings before display.
+ *
+ * @param array $displays
+ *   An array of file display formatters from file_displays_load(); each display
+ *   contains 'weight' and 'status' keys, as well as an array of settings.
+ * @param stdclass $file
+ *   A Drupal file entity.
+ * @param string $view_mode
+ *   The view mode being used to display the file.
  */
-function hook_file_displays_alter($displays, $file, $view_mode) {
+function hook_file_displays_alter(&$displays, $file, $view_mode) {
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/file_entity.module b/file_entity.module
index e2bf6c3..1cd5c67 100644
--- a/file_entity.module
+++ b/file_entity.module
@@ -138,6 +138,15 @@ function file_entity_entity_info_alter(&$entity_info) {
     $entity_info['file']['bundles'][$type] = array_intersect_key($info, drupal_map_assoc(array('label', 'admin')));
     $entity_info['file']['view callback'] = 'file_view_multiple';
   }
+
+  // Add a view mode for each core image style.
+  $image_styles = image_styles();
+  foreach ($image_styles as $style_name => $style) {
+    $entity_info['file']['view modes']['image__' . $style_name] = array(
+      'label' => 'Core style: ' . $style['name'],
+      'custom settings' => TRUE,
+    );
+  }
 }
 
 /**
@@ -353,7 +362,14 @@ function file_entity_file_formatter_file_image_view($file, $display, $langcode)
  *
  * Returns form elements for configuring the 'file_image' formatter.
  */
-function file_entity_file_formatter_file_image_settings($form, &$form_state, $settings) {
+function file_entity_file_formatter_file_image_settings(&$form, &$form_state, $settings) {
+  // If this view mode is based off of a core image style but the display has
+  // not been configured, use the core image style for the form defaults.
+  if (empty($settings['image_style']) && strpos($form['#view_mode'], 'image__') === 0 && !empty($form['displays']['status']['file_image'])) {
+    $settings['image_style'] = substr($form['#view_mode'], strlen('image__'));
+    $form['displays']['status']['file_image']['#default_value'] = TRUE;
+  }
+
   $element = array();
   $element['image_style'] = array(
     '#title' => t('Image style'),
@@ -366,6 +382,19 @@ function file_entity_file_formatter_file_image_settings($form, &$form_state, $se
 }
 
 /**
+ * Implements hook_file_displays_alter().
+ *
+ * If this view mode is based off of a core image style but the display has not
+ * been configured, default to using the core image style.
+ */
+function file_entity_file_displays_alter(&$displays, $file, $view_mode) {
+  if (empty($displays['file_image']['settings']['image_style']) && strpos($view_mode, 'image__') === 0) {
+    $image_style = substr($view_mode, strlen('image__'));
+    $displays['file_image']['settings']['image_style'] = $image_style;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
  * Menu access callback for the 'view mode file display settings' pages.
  *
  * Based on _field_ui_view_mode_menu_access(), but the Field UI module might not