diff --git a/frontend/src/components/upload/UploadQueueList.vue b/frontend/src/components/upload/UploadQueueList.vue
index 62e7e8b..f089d8a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/upload/UploadQueueList.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/upload/UploadQueueList.vue
@@ -14,11 +14,7 @@
                     loading="lazy"
                     decoding="async"
                 />
-                <span
-                    v-else
-                    class="h-10 w-10 shrink-0 rounded border border-border bg-muted/60"
-                    aria-hidden="true"
-                />
+                <span v-else class="h-10 w-10 shrink-0 rounded border border-border bg-muted/60" aria-hidden="true" />
                 <div class="min-w-0 flex-1 space-y-1">
                     <div class="flex min-w-0 items-baseline justify-between gap-2">
                         <span class="min-w-0 truncate text-sm font-medium">{{ row.file.name }}</span>
@@ -28,7 +24,7 @@
                     </div>
                     <div class="flex min-w-0 flex-col gap-0.5 text-xs">
                         <span class="min-w-0 truncate" :class="metadataStatusClass(row.metadata)">
-                            {{ row.metadata.message }}
+                            {{ formatMetadataPreviewMessage(row.metadata) }}
                         </span>
                         <span class="min-w-0 truncate" :class="uploadStatusClass(row.upload)">
                             {{ row.upload.message }}
@@ -41,13 +37,19 @@
 </template>
 
 <script setup lang="ts">
+import { storeToRefs } from 'pinia';
 import { type PropType } from 'vue';
+import { useExiftoolStore } from '@/stores/exiftool';
 import type { MetadataPreviewEntry } from '@/types/metadata/MetadataPreview';
 import { makeKeyFromFile } from '@/utils/file/makeKeyFromFile';
 import type { UploadQueueEntry } from '@/types/upload/UploadQueueEntry';
 import type { UploadQueueRow } from '@/types/upload/UploadQueueRow';
 import prettyBytes from 'pretty-bytes';
 
+const exiftoolStore = useExiftoolStore();
+
+const { wasmDownloadPercent } = storeToRefs(exiftoolStore);
+
 const props = defineProps({
     rows: {
         type: Array as PropType<UploadQueueRow[]>,
@@ -89,4 +91,18 @@ const uploadStatusClass = (entry: UploadQueueEntry): string => {
 
     return 'text-muted-foreground';
 };
+
+const formatMetadataPreviewMessage = (entry: MetadataPreviewEntry): string => {
+    if (entry.status === 'initializing') {
+        const percent = wasmDownloadPercent.value;
+
+        if (percent === null) {
+            return 'Downloading ExifTool…';
+        }
+
+        return `Downloading ExifTool… ${percent}%`;
+    }
+
+    return entry.message;
+};
 </script>
diff --git a/frontend/src/stores/exiftool.ts b/frontend/src/stores/exiftool.ts
index 935aed5..44c6605 100644
--- a/frontend/src/stores/exiftool.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/stores/exiftool.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import type { ExiftoolWorkerOutMessage } from '@/types/workers/exiftoolWorkerOut
 export const useExiftoolStore = defineStore('exiftool', () => {
     const initStatus = ref<ExiftoolInitStatus>('idle');
     const initErrorMessage = ref<string | null>(null);
+    const wasmDownloadPercent = ref<number | null>(null);
 
     const worker = ref<Worker | null>(null);
 
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ export const useExiftoolStore = defineStore('exiftool', () => {
         if (initStatus.value === 'idle') {
             initStatus.value = 'loading';
             initErrorMessage.value = null;
+            wasmDownloadPercent.value = 0;
             initPromise = new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
                 initPromiseResolve = resolve;
                 initPromiseReject = reject;
@@ -69,8 +71,15 @@ export const useExiftoolStore = defineStore('exiftool', () => {
     const handleWorkerMessage = (event: MessageEvent<ExiftoolWorkerOutMessage>): void => {
         const message = event.data;
 
+        if (message.type === 'wasm-download-progress') {
+            wasmDownloadPercent.value = message.percent;
+
+            return;
+        }
+
         if (message.type === 'init-done') {
             initStatus.value = 'ready';
+            wasmDownloadPercent.value = null;
             initPromiseResolve?.();
             initPromiseResolve = null;
             initPromiseReject = null;
@@ -81,6 +90,7 @@ export const useExiftoolStore = defineStore('exiftool', () => {
         if (message.type === 'init-error') {
             console.error('[exiftool] init-error', message.message);
             initStatus.value = 'error';
+            wasmDownloadPercent.value = null;
             initErrorMessage.value = message.message;
             initPromiseReject?.(new Error(message.message));
             initPromiseResolve = null;
@@ -181,6 +191,7 @@ export const useExiftoolStore = defineStore('exiftool', () => {
     return {
         initStatus,
         initErrorMessage,
+        wasmDownloadPercent,
         initializeExiftool,
         readMetadata,
         stripAllMetadata
diff --git a/frontend/src/stores/metadata.ts b/frontend/src/stores/metadata.ts
index 3859473..a7bba8b 100644
--- a/frontend/src/stores/metadata.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/stores/metadata.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import type { MetadataPreviewEntry } from '@/types/metadata/MetadataPreview';
 import { makeKeyFromFile } from '@/utils/file/makeKeyFromFile';
 
 const METADATA_IDLE_MESSAGE = 'Waiting to load metadata...';
-const EXIFTOOL_INITIALIZING_MESSAGE = 'Initializing ExifTool. It may take a minute on slow networks...';
+const EXIFTOOL_INITIALIZING_MESSAGE = 'Downloading ExifTool…';
 const METADATA_PROCESSING_MESSAGE = 'Stripping metadata...';
 const METADATA_READY_MESSAGE = 'Metadata stripped';
 const METADATA_LOAD_ERROR_MESSAGE = 'Could not load image metadata';
diff --git a/frontend/src/types/workers/exiftoolWorkerOutMessage.ts b/frontend/src/types/workers/exiftoolWorkerOutMessage.ts
index 330ea61..2ccd1e3 100644
--- a/frontend/src/types/workers/exiftoolWorkerOutMessage.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/types/workers/exiftoolWorkerOutMessage.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 export type ExiftoolWorkerOutMessage =
+    | { type: 'wasm-download-progress'; percent: number }
     | { type: 'init-done' }
     | { type: 'init-error'; message: string }
     | { type: 'read-metadata-done'; id: string; output: string }
diff --git a/frontend/src/workers/exiftoolWorker.ts b/frontend/src/workers/exiftoolWorker.ts
index 0f80021..3ce8d18 100644
--- a/frontend/src/workers/exiftoolWorker.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/workers/exiftoolWorker.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import zeroperlWasmUrl from '@6over3/zeroperl-ts/zeroperl.wasm?url';
 import { parseMetadata, writeMetadata } from '@uswriting/exiftool';
+import axios from 'axios';
 import { EXIFTOOL_WORKER_INIT_JPEG } from '@/consts/exiftoolWorkerInitJpeg';
 import type { ExiftoolWorkerInMessage } from '@/types/workers/exiftoolWorkerInMessage';
 import type { ExiftoolWorkerJob } from '@/types/workers/exiftoolWorkerJob';
@@ -14,13 +15,22 @@ let cachedZeroperlWasm: ArrayBuffer | null = null;
  */
 const fetchZeroperlWasm = async (): Promise<Response> => {
     if (!cachedZeroperlWasm) {
-        const response = await fetch(zeroperlWasmUrl);
+        const { data } = await axios.get<ArrayBuffer>(zeroperlWasmUrl, {
+            responseType: 'arraybuffer',
+            onDownloadProgress: progressEvent => {
+                if (!progressEvent.total) {
+                    return;
+                }
 
-        if (!response.ok) {
-            throw new Error(`Failed to load zeroperl.wasm: HTTP ${response.status}`);
-        }
+                const percent = Math.min(100, (progressEvent.loaded / progressEvent.total) * 100);
 
-        cachedZeroperlWasm = await response.arrayBuffer();
+                const rounded = parseFloat(percent.toFixed(2));
+
+                self.postMessage({ type: 'wasm-download-progress', percent: rounded });
+            }
+        });
+
+        cachedZeroperlWasm = data;
     }
 
     return new Response(cachedZeroperlWasm, {