diff --git a/www/js/app.js b/www/js/app.js
index 1b3ec9a3..2362fd0e 100644
--- a/www/js/app.js
+++ b/www/js/app.js
@@ -787,19 +787,11 @@ define(['jquery', 'zimArchiveLoader', 'util', 'uiUtil', 'cookies','abstractFiles
         $("#articleContent").contents().scrollTop(0);
 
         // Display the article inside the web page.
-        var $body = $(htmlArticle);
-        $body.find('img').each(function(){
-            var image = $(this);
-    	    // Prevents unnecessary 404's being produced when iframe loads images [kiwix-js #272]
-            $(image).attr("data-src", $(image).attr("src"));
-            $(image).removeAttr("src");
-            $(image).hide(); //Hide images to prevent occupying whitespace
-            //Restore hidden images on load
-            $(image).on("load", function (e) {
-                $(this).show();
-            });
-        });
-        $('#articleContent').contents().find('body').html($body);
+        //Fast-replace img with data-img and hide image [kiwix-js #272]
+        htmlArticle = htmlArticle.replace(/(<img\s+[^>]*)src(\s*=)/ig,
+            "$1style=\"display: none;\" onload=\"this.style.display='inline'\" data-kiwixsrc$2");
+
+        $('#articleContent').contents().find('body').html(htmlArticle);
         
         // If the ServiceWorker is not useable, we need to fallback to parse the DOM
         // to inject math images, and replace some links with javascript calls
@@ -865,7 +857,7 @@ define(['jquery', 'zimArchiveLoader', 'util', 'uiUtil', 'cookies','abstractFiles
                 var image = $(this);
                 // It's a standard image contained in the ZIM file
                 // We try to find its name (from an absolute or relative URL)
-                var imageMatch = image.attr('data-src').match(regexpImageUrl); //kiwix-js #272
+                var imageMatch = image.attr('data-kiwixsrc').match(regexpImageUrl); //kiwix-js #272
                 if (imageMatch) {
                     var title = decodeURIComponent(imageMatch[1]);
                     selectedArchive.getDirEntryByTitle(title).then(function(dirEntry) {