diff --git a/src/image_cache.rs b/src/image_cache.rs
index 6d89209..2d87899 100644
--- a/src/image_cache.rs
+++ b/src/image_cache.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ fn url_to_filename(url: &str) -> String {
     let mut hasher = std::collections::hash_map::DefaultHasher::new();
     url.hash(&mut hasher);
     let hash = format!("{:016x}", hasher.finish());
-    // Preserve extension so WebKit can detect the content type.
     let ext = url.split('?').next()
         .and_then(|u| u.rsplit('.').next())
         .filter(|e| e.len() <= 5 && e.bytes().all(|b| b.is_ascii_alphanumeric()))
@@ -22,8 +21,122 @@ fn url_to_filename(url: &str) -> String {
     if ext.is_empty() { hash } else { format!("{}.{}", hash, ext) }
 }
 
-/// Download all remote images in every article and rewrite their src
-/// attributes to file:// URIs so articles render offline.
+fn percent_encode(s: &str) -> String {
+    let mut out = String::with_capacity(s.len());
+    for b in s.bytes() {
+        if b.is_ascii_alphanumeric() || b"-.~_".contains(&b) {
+            out.push(b as char);
+        } else {
+            out.push_str(&format!("%{:02X}", b));
+        }
+    }
+    out
+}
+
+fn percent_decode(s: &str) -> String {
+    let bytes = s.as_bytes();
+    let mut out = Vec::with_capacity(bytes.len());
+    let mut i = 0;
+    while i < bytes.len() {
+        if bytes[i] == b'%' && i + 2 < bytes.len() {
+            if let Ok(b) = u8::from_str_radix(
+                std::str::from_utf8(&bytes[i + 1..i + 3]).unwrap_or(""),
+                16,
+            ) {
+                out.push(b);
+                i += 3;
+                continue;
+            }
+        }
+        out.push(bytes[i]);
+        i += 1;
+    }
+    String::from_utf8_lossy(&out).into_owned()
+}
+
+const SCHEME: &str = "feedthemonkey-img";
+const SCHEME_PREFIX: &str = "feedthemonkey-img:///";
+
+fn original_url_to_scheme_uri(url: &str) -> String {
+    format!("{}{}", SCHEME_PREFIX, percent_encode(url))
+}
+
+/// Register the feedthemonkey-img URI scheme handler on the WebView's context.
+/// Call this in setup_webview() before load_html().
+pub fn register_scheme(ctx: &webkit6::WebContext) {
+    ctx.register_uri_scheme(SCHEME, |request| {
+        let uri = request.uri().unwrap_or_default().to_string();
+        let encoded = uri.strip_prefix(SCHEME_PREFIX).unwrap_or(&uri);
+        let original_url = percent_decode(encoded);
+        let path = images_dir().join(url_to_filename(&original_url));
+
+        if path.exists() {
+            serve_file(request.clone(), path);
+            return;
+        }
+
+        // Not in cache — download in tokio, serve back on the main thread.
+        let request = request.clone();
+        let (tx, rx) = tokio::sync::oneshot::channel::<bool>();
+        let path_dl = path.clone();
+
+        crate::runtime::spawn_bg(async move {
+            let ok = async {
+                let bytes = reqwest::get(&original_url).await?.bytes().await?;
+                std::fs::create_dir_all(path_dl.parent().unwrap()).ok();
+                std::fs::write(&path_dl, &bytes).ok();
+                Ok::<_, reqwest::Error>(())
+            }
+            .await
+            .is_ok();
+            let _ = tx.send(ok);
+        });
+
+        // spawn_future_local runs on the GLib main loop so the non-Send
+        // URISchemeRequest can be safely held across the await point.
+        glib::spawn_future_local(async move {
+            if rx.await.unwrap_or(false) && path.exists() {
+                serve_file(request, path);
+            } else {
+                request.finish_error(&mut glib::Error::new(
+                    gio::IOErrorEnum::NotFound,
+                    "Image unavailable",
+                ));
+            }
+        });
+    });
+}
+
+fn serve_file(request: webkit6::URISchemeRequest, path: PathBuf) {
+    match std::fs::read(&path) {
+        Ok(data) => {
+            let mime = path.extension()
+                .and_then(|e| e.to_str())
+                .map(|ext| match ext.to_ascii_lowercase().as_str() {
+                    "jpg" | "jpeg" => "image/jpeg",
+                    "png"          => "image/png",
+                    "gif"          => "image/gif",
+                    "webp"         => "image/webp",
+                    "svg"          => "image/svg+xml",
+                    "avif"         => "image/avif",
+                    _              => "application/octet-stream",
+                })
+                .unwrap_or("application/octet-stream");
+            let stream = gio::MemoryInputStream::from_bytes(&glib::Bytes::from_owned(data));
+            request.finish(&stream, -1, Some(mime));
+        }
+        Err(_) => {
+            request.finish_error(&mut glib::Error::new(
+                gio::IOErrorEnum::NotFound,
+                "Image not found",
+            ));
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Download all remote images in every article and rewrite their src attributes
+/// to feedthemonkey-img:// URIs so images are served through the cache handler,
+/// which re-downloads automatically on a cache miss.
 pub async fn process(articles: Vec<Article>) -> Vec<Article> {
     let dir = images_dir();
     std::fs::create_dir_all(&dir).ok();
@@ -42,9 +155,7 @@ pub async fn process(articles: Vec<Article>) -> Vec<Article> {
 
         for cap in re.captures_iter(&content) {
             let url = &cap[1];
-            let filename = url_to_filename(url);
-            let path = dir.join(&filename);
-
+            let path = dir.join(url_to_filename(url));
             if !path.exists() {
                 if let Ok(resp) = client.get(url).send().await {
                     if let Ok(bytes) = resp.bytes().await {
@@ -52,14 +163,12 @@ pub async fn process(articles: Vec<Article>) -> Vec<Article> {
                     }
                 }
             }
-
-            if path.exists() {
-                let file_uri = format!("file://{}", path.display());
-                rewritten = rewritten.replace(
-                    &format!("src=\"{}\"", url),
-                    &format!("src=\"{}\"", file_uri),
-                );
-            }
+            // Always rewrite to the scheme URI so the handler can re-download
+            // if the cache directory is ever deleted.
+            rewritten = rewritten.replace(
+                &format!("src=\"{}\"", url),
+                &format!("src=\"{}\"", original_url_to_scheme_uri(url)),
+            );
         }
 
         article.content = rewritten;
@@ -68,16 +177,20 @@ pub async fn process(articles: Vec<Article>) -> Vec<Article> {
     out
 }
 
-/// Remove cached image files that are no longer referenced by any article.
+/// Remove cached image files no longer referenced by any article.
 pub fn cleanup(articles: &[Article]) {
     let dir = images_dir();
     let Ok(entries) = std::fs::read_dir(&dir) else { return };
 
-    let re = regex::Regex::new(r#"src="file://[^"]+/images/([^"]+)""#).unwrap();
+    let re = regex::Regex::new(
+        &format!(r#"src="{}([^"]+)""#, regex::escape(SCHEME_PREFIX)),
+    )
+    .unwrap();
+
     let mut referenced: HashSet<String> = HashSet::new();
     for article in articles {
         for cap in re.captures_iter(&article.content) {
-            referenced.insert(cap[1].to_string());
+            referenced.insert(url_to_filename(&percent_decode(&cap[1])));
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/window.rs b/src/window.rs
index cc2c4ba..95ba8ea 100644
--- a/src/window.rs
+++ b/src/window.rs
@@ -245,6 +245,9 @@ pub mod imp {
 
         fn setup_webview(&self) {
             let wv = &*self.web_view;
+            if let Some(ctx) = wv.web_context() {
+                crate::image_cache::register_scheme(&ctx);
+            }
 
             // Load content.html from GResource, inlining the CSS so WebKit
             // doesn't need to fetch it over a custom scheme.