History Main / SlowLoadingInternetImage

* On ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Barney begs Ted to "date" a twenty-something college student for him, since he can't after getting engaged to Robin. Afterwards, Ted shows him a picture of the girl, starting from the feet and panning up. Barney is all excited until they get up to her face, and he realizes that it's is half-sister. He doesn't take it well.

* ''TheITCrowd'' did this offscreen with a photograph of Roy's new online date, with Moss and Roy commenting on each new feature of her face as the slow-loading image revealed it. It does load downwards, and the slowness is lampshaded with a mention that there's something wrong with the routers and everyone's back to "pre-broadband speeds".

* A video variation: In ''TheBigBangTheory'', Leonard and Priya are communicating through teleconferencing and are attempting to have a long-distance intimate date. Leonard takes off his clothes, but when Priya starts to take off hers, the signal freezes just as she's taking off her bra.
* On ''HowIMetYourMother'', Barney begs Ted to "date" a twenty-something college student for him, since he can't after getting engaged to Robin. Afterwards, Ted shows him a picture of the girl, starting from the feet and panning up. Barney is all excited until they get up to her face, and he realizes that it's is half-sister. He doesn't take it well.

* Dean from ''LibertyMeadows'' encounters this convenient censorship dilemma while downloading pornography.

Real slow loading internet images tend to load from the top, although uncompressed Windows bitmap (.bmp) files will start loading from the bottom. Being uncompressed, they can be hundreds of times larger than an equivalent compressed image, and for some reason, are stored bottom-up. However, BMP files are almost never used on the Internet (and in fact, forbidden on standards-compliant web pages).

* In ''TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', this is what caused Richard Watterson to throw away most of his money on an online scam ("better future for your children" turned out to be "better future for your children of your children's children's great-grandchildren"). To be fair, this happened back in the 90's.

* In ''TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' This is what caused Richard Watterson to throw away most of his money on an online scam ("better future for your children" turned out to be "better future for your children of your children's children's great-grandchildren"). To be fair, this happened back in the 90's.

* This is what caused Richard Watterson to throw away most of his money on an online scam ("better future for your children" turned out to be "better future for your children of your children's children's great-grandchildren"). To be fair, it happened back in the 70's.

Real slow loading internet images tend to load top-down, although the slow upwards loading can be TruthInTelevision: uncompressed Windows bitmap (.bmp) files will do the slow upwards load. Being uncompressed, they can be hundreds of times larger than an equivalent compressed image, and for some reason, are stored bottom-up. However, BMP files are almost never used on the Internet (and in fact, forbidden on standards-compliant web pages).

Something of a DiscreditedTrope in light of just how much TechnologyMarchesOn; most internet connections these days are more than capable of handling adequately-sized images. A more modern equivalent is slow or malfunctioning video buffering, which is still very much an issue for most.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Comic Book Guy is seen downloading a nude image of [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Captain Janeway]]. Just as it gets revealing, a popup for Homer's internet service appears, leading Comic Book Guy to remark "Hmm... the Internet King. Perhaps he can provide [[TheInternetIsForPorn faster nudity]]."
** However, it did load from the top down.

** On a less shocking level, it was frustrating in the early days of dialup when a large image of a woman would slooooly looooad uuuuup and the file would freeze up right before the breasts were shown.

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[[caption-width-right:240:Worst Dial-up, ''Ever!'']]

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* An April Fool's day comic on the webcomic ''SluggyFreelance'' made good use of this trope [[http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=060401 here]].

* Famously averted with ''VGCats''' flash-animated anniversary special - a mistake in the programming caused it to load [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/extras/100.php in the wrong direction]].

* In one Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} panel, the [[WebAnimation S]] command is used, but the loading time seems curiously slow... Eventually the reader will scroll down to the text part of the page, [[TrollingCreator which mocks them for spending so much time looking at the gif, thinking it's a movie.]]

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[[caption-width-right:240:Worst. Dial-up. ''Ever.'']]

[[caption-width-right:240:The worst dial-up ''ever!'']]

[[quoteright:300:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slow_load_250p_2_3513.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:The worst dial-up ''ever!'']]

[[quoteright:260:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slow_load_250p_2_3513.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:260:The worst dial-up ''ever!'']]

[[quoteright:250:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slow_load_250p_2_3513.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:250:The worst dial-up ''ever!'']]

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slow_load_250p_2_3513.png]]

* ''TheITCrowd'' did this offscreen with a photograph of Roy's new online girlfriend, with Moss and Roy commenting on each new feature of her face as the slow-loading image revealed it. It does load downwards, and the slowness is lampshaded with a mention that there's something wrong with the network and everyone's back to "pre-broadband speeds".
** "Do you remember this? You'd be up all night and [[TheInternetIsForPorn see like, eight women"]]

Can also apply to various other things. But the key is the ''{{Slow Loading Internet Image}}'' promising something sweet but getting a twist when done loading. The loading can also occur horizontal, basically any way the show wants it to make the scene funny/exciting.

Something of a DiscreditedTrope in light of just how much TechnologyMarchesOn; most internet connections these days are more than capable of handling adequately-sized images. A modern (well, more modern) equivalent is slow or malfunctioning video buffering, which is still very much an issue for most.

** The late Richard Jeni once joked about loading pornography on dial-up: "All right, all right, good boobs, all right, come on- [[UnsettlinggenderReveal PENIS!]] Oh, God!"