diff --git a/source/blender/editors/interface/interface_intern.hh b/source/blender/editors/interface/interface_intern.hh
index 727d8bd4139..7b89bb2fa48 100644
--- a/source/blender/editors/interface/interface_intern.hh
+++ b/source/blender/editors/interface/interface_intern.hh
@@ -369,6 +369,10 @@ struct uiButProgress : public uiBut {
 struct uiButViewItem : public uiBut {
   /* C-Handle to the view item this button was created for. */
   uiViewItemHandle *view_item = nullptr;
+  /* Some items want to have a fixed size for drawing, differing from the interaction rectangle
+   * (e.g. so highlights are drawn smaller). */
+  int draw_width = 0;
+  int draw_height = 0;
 };
 
 /** Derived struct for #UI_BTYPE_HSVCUBE. */
diff --git a/source/blender/editors/interface/interface_widgets.cc b/source/blender/editors/interface/interface_widgets.cc
index 0a29ed093bd..18cbe3fd94f 100644
--- a/source/blender/editors/interface/interface_widgets.cc
+++ b/source/blender/editors/interface/interface_widgets.cc
@@ -4178,19 +4178,32 @@ static void widget_menu_radial_itembut(uiBut *but,
   widgetbase_draw(&wtb, wcol);
 }
 
-static void widget_list_itembut(uiWidgetColors *wcol,
+static void widget_list_itembut(uiBut *but,
+                                uiWidgetColors *wcol,
                                 rcti *rect,
                                 const uiWidgetStateInfo *state,
                                 int /*roundboxalign*/,
                                 const float zoom)
 {
+  rcti draw_rect = *rect;
+
+  if (but->type == UI_BTYPE_VIEW_ITEM) {
+    uiButViewItem *item_but = static_cast<uiButViewItem *>(but);
+    if (item_but->draw_width > 0) {
+      BLI_rcti_resize_x(&draw_rect, item_but->draw_width);
+    }
+    if (item_but->draw_height > 0) {
+      BLI_rcti_resize_y(&draw_rect, item_but->draw_height);
+    }
+  }
+
   uiWidgetBase wtb;
   widget_init(&wtb);
 
   /* no outline */
   wtb.draw_outline = false;
   const float rad = widget_radius_from_zoom(zoom, wcol);
-  round_box_edges(&wtb, UI_CNR_ALL, rect, rad);
+  round_box_edges(&wtb, UI_CNR_ALL, &draw_rect, rad);
 
   if (state->but_flag & UI_ACTIVE && !(state->but_flag & UI_SELECT)) {
     copy_v3_v3_uchar(wcol->inner, wcol->text);
@@ -4208,7 +4221,7 @@ static void widget_preview_tile(uiBut *but,
                                 const float zoom)
 {
   if (!ELEM(but->emboss, UI_EMBOSS_NONE, UI_EMBOSS_NONE_OR_STATUS)) {
-    widget_list_itembut(wcol, rect, state, roundboxalign, zoom);
+    widget_list_itembut(but, wcol, rect, state, roundboxalign, zoom);
   }
 
   /* When the button is not tagged as having a preview icon, do regular icon drawing with the
@@ -4666,7 +4679,7 @@ static uiWidgetType *widget_type(uiWidgetTypeEnum type)
     case UI_WTYPE_LISTITEM:
     case UI_WTYPE_VIEW_ITEM:
       wt.wcol_theme = &btheme->tui.wcol_list_item;
-      wt.draw = widget_list_itembut;
+      wt.custom = widget_list_itembut;
       break;
 
     case UI_WTYPE_PROGRESS:
diff --git a/source/blender/editors/interface/views/tree_view.cc b/source/blender/editors/interface/views/tree_view.cc
index f0bc5a246fd..816965064a0 100644
--- a/source/blender/editors/interface/views/tree_view.cc
+++ b/source/blender/editors/interface/views/tree_view.cc
@@ -26,6 +26,16 @@
 
 namespace blender::ui {
 
+static int unpadded_item_height()
+{
+  return UI_UNIT_Y;
+}
+static int padded_item_height()
+{
+  const uiStyle *style = UI_style_get_dpi();
+  return unpadded_item_height() + style->buttonspacey;
+}
+
 /* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
 AbstractTreeViewItem &TreeViewItemContainer::add_tree_item(
@@ -300,6 +310,7 @@ void AbstractTreeViewItem::add_treerow_button(uiBlock &block)
       &block, UI_BTYPE_VIEW_ITEM, 0, "", 0, 0, UI_UNIT_X * 10, UI_UNIT_Y, nullptr, 0, 0, 0, 0, "");
 
   view_item_but_->view_item = reinterpret_cast<uiViewItemHandle *>(this);
+  view_item_but_->draw_height = unpadded_item_height();
   UI_but_func_set(view_item_but_, tree_row_click_fn, view_item_but_, nullptr);
 }
 
@@ -579,7 +590,7 @@ void TreeViewLayoutBuilder::build_from_tree(const AbstractTreeView &tree_view)
   uiLayout &parent_layout = current_layout();
 
   uiLayout *box = uiLayoutBox(&parent_layout);
-  uiLayoutColumn(box, false);
+  uiLayoutColumn(box, true);
 
   tree_view.foreach_item([this](AbstractTreeViewItem &item) { build_row(item); },
                          AbstractTreeView::IterOptions::SkipCollapsed |
@@ -616,6 +627,8 @@ void TreeViewLayoutBuilder::build_row(AbstractTreeViewItem &item) const
   if (!item.is_interactive_) {
     uiLayoutSetActive(overlap, false);
   }
+  /* Scale the layout for the padded height. Widgets will be vertically centered then. */
+  uiLayoutSetScaleY(overlap, float(padded_item_height()) / UI_UNIT_Y);
 
   uiLayout *row = uiLayoutRow(overlap, false);
   /* Enable emboss for mouse hover highlight. */