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If a PNG is missing or appears broken, first inspect the failed image request in your browser’s developer tools. Confirm the exact URL, make sure that file exists at the deployed location, verify the response is served as image/png, and then check that the file is valid PNG data. Only investigate CORS when the image uses a crossorigin request. This order separates path, server, file, and cross-origin failures instead of guessing at CSS or rewriting otherwise-correct HTML.

1. Inspect what the browser actually requested

Open Developer Tools (F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I), select the Network panel, reload the page, and filter by Img. Select the failed request and record:

  • The complete Request URL, including its path, filename, query string, and letter case.
  • The status code or whether the request was blocked before a response.
  • The response headers, especially Content-Type.
  • Any message in the Console, such as a decode, CORS, or mixed-content error.

An <img> loads the resource selected by src or, when responsive markup is used, by srcset. An empty source, corrupt image data, unsupported format, or other loading error can therefore be distinguished only by examining the request and console. See the MDN img reference.

2. Verify the URL and deployed file

Compare the Network panel’s Request URL with the files actually published by your web server. A syntactically valid HTML page can still point to a nonexistent location.

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Relative, root-relative, and absolute paths

These references resolve differently:

<!-- Relative to the current document URL -->
<img src="images/example.png" alt="Example chart">

<!-- Relative to the site origin -->
<img src="/images/example.png" alt="Example chart">

<!-- Complete URL on a host you control -->
<img src="https://cdn.example.com/images/example.png" alt="Example chart">

If the page is https://site.test/docs/start.html, images/example.png requests /docs/images/example.png, not /images/example.png. Use the path that matches your deployed directory. Check spelling, capitalization, hyphens, underscores, and the extension; many production servers are case-sensitive even when a local development machine is not.

Do not use a computer-local path

A value such as C:UsersAvaPictureslogo.png or /Users/ava/Desktop/logo.png points to a file on your computer, not to a file available to visitors. Copy the PNG into the site’s public/static directory, deploy it, and reference the resulting HTTP(S) URL.

Check srcset as well as src

Responsive markup can cause the browser to choose a URL from srcset instead of the fallback src. Inspect the selected request, then verify every candidate file and its width descriptor. A correct fallback does not help if the browser selected a misspelled high-resolution candidate.

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MDN’s guide to HTML images explains URL resolution and deployment expectations.

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3. Confirm the server response is a PNG

The URL extension does not determine how a browser interprets the response. The server should send Content-Type: image/png for PNG data. In Network tools, expand the response headers and compare the type with the actual file.

You can also inspect headers from a terminal:

curl -I https://your-domain.example/images/example.png

A successful status with an incorrect type (for example, an HTML error page returned as text/html) still produces a broken image. Correct the static-file or CDN mapping, and ensure that a missing file returns an appropriate error rather than a custom HTML page with a successful status. MIME handling is described in MDN’s MIME types guide; PNG’s media type is documented in MDN’s image types reference.

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4. Test whether the PNG data is valid

When the URL exists and the response type is plausible, download the response and open it in an image viewer or editor. If the viewer cannot open it, the upload may be truncated, renamed from another format, or damaged. Compare the deployed file with the original build artifact and redeploy a known-good copy.

Do not “repair” the problem by changing .png to .jpg; an extension change does not convert the bytes. Re-export or convert the source image with an image tool, then upload the newly generated file. The MDN img documentation lists corrupted image data and metadata as causes of image errors, but the available browser evidence does not identify one universal repair command.

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5. Check CORS only when the markup requests it

CORS is conditional, not the default explanation for a broken image. If your markup includes crossorigin, or JavaScript needs to read the image (for example, drawing it to a canvas), inspect the Console for a CORS error and examine the image server’s Access-Control-Allow-Origin response.

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The crossorigin attribute makes the browser perform a CORS request. If the server does not allow the requesting origin, the browser blocks the resource for that use. Remove the attribute when you do not need a CORS-enabled request, or configure the image host to allow the specific site origin. Do not add permissive headers blindly; first confirm the Console and response headers support this diagnosis. See the CORS behavior described in the MDN img reference.

6. Use a minimal known-good example

Reduce the page to one image and no framework-specific components:

<img src="images/example.png" alt="Describe the image’s meaning">

Replace the illustrative path with the URL confirmed in Network tools. If this works, restore your framework component, CSS, lazy-loading attributes, and responsive sources one at a time until the failing layer is identified. Keep meaningful alt text. For a purely decorative image, use an empty value, alt="", as described in MDN’s HTML images guide. Alt text communicates meaning when an image cannot load; it does not repair a failed request.

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7. Troubleshooting by symptom

What you observe Likely branch Action
404 or a request for the wrong directory URL or deployment mismatch Copy the exact Request URL, correct the relative/root-relative path, check filename case, deploy the file, and reload without a stale cache.
200 response but preview is HTML Routing or fallback page returned instead of the PNG Fix static-file routing and verify the response body and Content-Type: image/png.
200 response, PNG type, image decode error Invalid or damaged bytes Open the downloaded file outside the browser, compare it with the source artifact, and re-export/redeploy a valid PNG.
Console reports a CORS failure and crossorigin is present Conditional cross-origin policy Check the image server’s allow-origin response or remove crossorigin if your use case does not require it.
Only some responsive sizes fail Bad srcset candidate Inspect which candidate was selected and publish every referenced file.
Image appears only after a hard refresh Cache or deployment inconsistency Compare the response body and headers in a private window, then invalidate the affected CDN/browser cache after deploying the corrected file.

8. A repeatable checklist for production

  1. Open Network and Console, reload, and capture the failed request details.
  2. Paste the Request URL into a new tab; confirm it is the intended file, not an HTML error document.
  3. Match the URL to the deployed directory, exact filename, case, and extension.
  4. Verify the response status, body, and Content-Type: image/png.
  5. Open or decode the downloaded bytes to rule out corruption.
  6. Inspect srcset, lazy-loading logic, and framework-generated URLs if only certain variants fail.
  7. Investigate CORS only when crossorigin or a cross-origin read is involved.
  8. Retest in a clean session after deployment and cache invalidation.

Or skip the browser setup

For a deployed page where you want an automated visual check, ScreenshotNeo provides a single screenshot request. Before capture it accepts cookie/consent banners and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets; each cleanup step can be disabled. Bot checks or CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and the response identifies the result with X-Page-Verdict and X-Billed headers.

cURL

curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webp

Python

import requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"}, timeout=90)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)

Node.js

const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://stripe.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);

Replace the example URL with your deployed page. The API can return PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF and supports full-page captures with lazy images loaded, CSS-selector element captures, device and viewport settings, retina scale, custom CSS/JavaScript, click and wait actions, request blocking, headers/cookies/user agents, timezone and geolocation, transparent backgrounds, resizing, chosen cache TTLs, signed links, asynchronous jobs with signed webhooks, bulk capture of up to 100 URLs per call, usage reporting, and an OpenAPI specification. An MCP server supplies take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf tools to Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients.

See the ScreenshotNeo documentation for parameters and response handling. The Free plan includes 1,000 shots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots, and every feature is included on every plan. Sign up free to test a page without adding a card.

FAQ

Can valid HTML still show a broken PNG?

Yes. HTML syntax can be correct while the URL points to a missing file, the server returns the wrong media type, or the bytes are not valid PNG data. The Network response is the deciding evidence.

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Should I add a leading slash to every image path?

No. A leading slash makes the URL root-relative; omit it when the image is intentionally relative to the current document directory. Choose the form that matches your deployed structure.

Does alt text make an image load?

No. It provides an accessible textual alternative when loading fails. Fix the request, response, or file separately.

When is CORS relevant?

Investigate it when the image uses crossorigin or code needs cross-origin access, and the Console reports a policy failure. It is not a default cause for ordinary same-origin <img> markup.

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