If you are experiencing difficulty downloading or viewing images through Firefox, follow the troubleshooting instructions below.

This article applies to:

• Still image file formats such as PNG, GIF, and JPG
• Animated file formats like animated GIF

This article does not apply to the following formats:

• Video, such as MPG, WMV, and AVI. For more information, see Video or audio does not play.
• Animated content that is displayed through a plugin:
  • For more information on the Flash plugin, see Using the Flash plugin with Firefox.
  • For more information on the Shockwave plugin, see Using the Shockwave plugin with Firefox.

Table Of Contents

• Check image permissions
• Clear cookies and cache
• The image cannot be displayed because it contains errors
• Security software
• Images load the first time but not later
• Images load but look wrong
• Other reasons why images may not load
• Images still do not load correctly

Check image permissions

Firefox allows you to prevent images from loading for certain websites to make pages load faster. If you are having trouble viewing images:

1. At the top of the Firefox windowOn the menu bar, click on the ToolsFirefoxEdit menu, and select Options...Preferences....
2. OptionsPreferences window, select the Content panel.
3. Make sure there is a check mark next to Load images automatically
4. Click on Exceptions... next to Load images automatically to open the Exceptions - Images window.
5. In the Exceptions - Images window, look at the list of sites. Make sure the sites with which you're having trouble are not in the list.
6. Click Close to closeClose the Exceptions - Images window.
7. Click OK to close the Options windowClick Close to close the Preferences windowClose the Preferences window

Clear cookies and cache

Sometimes problems loading websites can be fixed by clearing the Firefox cache and the Cookies associated with the problematic websites:

The image cannot be displayed because it contains errors

If you receive the message that an image cannot be displayed because it contains errors, see The image cannot be displayed because it contains errors article.

Security software

Some Internet security software (including antivirus and anti-spyware programs, firewalls, privacy programs, and others) may identify and block certain images as web bugs or may prevent images from animating. Check the settings for your Internet security program to make sure it allows images to load.

Images load but look wrong

If images on websites load, but don't look right or don't look the way they do in other browsers:

• If the colors in the image look incorrect, try the solutions in the Website colors are wrong article.
• If you are using any sort of web accelerator software, disable it and see if images load properly. For more information, see the documentation that came with the software.
• If the image area shows text or some form of gibberish, see the MozillaZine Knowledge Base article Page displays as gibberish.

Other reasons why images may not load

• The site that displays the images may be down or experiencing difficulties. To verify, try loading the site from a different computer or browser.
• Some pathnames to images contain backslashes (e.g. example.com\MyImage.jpg). In browsers other than Internet Explorer, these pathnames do not load. If you see that the image's URL contains a backslash, contact the site's webmaster about the issue.

Images still do not load correctly

If you have tried all of the solutions in this article and images or animations still don't load correctly:

• Try resetting Firefox preferences.
• Follow the other steps in the Basic troubleshooting article.

Based on information from Images or animations do not load (mozillaZine KB)