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"Waiting for Server" delay on shared links for 30+ seconds

JohnCC

Screenshot 2026-06-03 103119.png

I'm a sysadmin and some of our users utilize dropbox. dl.dropbox.com for sharing files. dl.dropbox.com will eventually serve a file, but on any attempt, it could take 30 seconds or longer. Sometimes, it will just time out before dropbox serves the file.

I have tested this on another network with the same result. Notice from the network analysis in the screenshot the loading time is "waiting for server" not the actual content download.

Is dropbox aware of this issue? Is anyone else having this problem?

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Walter

Hi @JohnCC - thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Can you please let me know if this persists after clearing your web browser's cache, trying another browser or an incognito window (with no extensions or plugins running) and even after rebooting your computer and/or internet router?

If it does, I'd appreciate a screenshot so that we can have a visual too.

Thanks so much!

JohnCC

Screenshot 2026-06-03 113633.png

Screenshot 2026-06-03 113720.png

Here are two screenshots in incognito mode using the Chrome developer tab to reveal the network timing using incognito mode after clearing things out and rebooting.

In this try, it took 10 seconds (10,000ms) to access this small fonts.css file hosted on dl.dropbox.com. Again, note that the actual "content download" part was fast as expected, but waiting for the server to send the file took 10 seconds.

I am able to reproduce this in Firefox as well.

Tamara29450

Hello ,

I am contacting you because several Forumactif forum administrators are currently experiencing severe latency when their forums load files hosted on Dropbox.

The issue started around June 2, 2026, at approximately 8:00 PM CEST.

Symptoms:

Forum pages take between 2 and 5 minutes to load.
The issue affects forums using CSS or other assets hosted on Dropbox.
In some cases, when the CSS files are moved back directly into Forumactif, the latency disappears.
Pages that still call Dropbox-hosted resources continue to be extremely slow.

This seems to indicate a problem with Dropbox-hosted files being loaded from Forumactif pages, or a latency issue involving Dropbox delivery/CDN access from these forums.

Could you please investigate whether there is currently an issue affecting Dropbox public file delivery, especially through dl.dropbox.com?

Examples of affected usage:

CSS files hosted on Dropbox and loaded from Forumactif templates/pages.
Forum pages waiting for Dropbox-hosted resources before finishing loading.

Affected forum URL:
[Removed as per Community Guidelines]

Example Dropbox file URL causing latency:
[Removed as per Community Guidelines]

Tests already performed:

The issue appears on multiple Forumactif forums.
The issue persists when Dropbox-hosted resources are called.
Moving the CSS directly to Forumactif removes or greatly reduces the latency.
The issue appeared suddenly, without recent changes to the affected Dropbox-hosted files.

Thank you for your help.
Best regards,
Tamara

Jay

Hi @JohnCC, @Tamara29450, currently, we're not experiencing any delays with shared links on our servers.

Are the shared links on a paid personal plan, or a Dropbox team plan?

Tamara29450

Hi,

No, this is not related to a paid personal plan or a Dropbox team plan.

As far as I know, these are regular Dropbox-hosted files / shared links, mostly used to host CSS or other external assets for Forumactif forums.

Everything was working correctly until now. The issue appeared suddenly, without any recent change on our side.

The problem seems to be more general: I have counted at least six Forumactif forums affected so far, all using code or external resources hosted on Dropbox.

Some users tested moving their CSS directly back to Forumactif, and the latency disappeared or was greatly reduced. However, pages still loading Dropbox-hosted files remain extremely slow.

Thank you.

eagledrop

+1 on this issue. We’re relying on Dropbox to serve media files, and as of today it’s very slow. Is this a temporary or permanent change from Dropbox?

Mark

@Tamara29450 - I've posted on your other thread, I suspect for you the issue relates to the fact that Dropbox is not and never ever has been a CDN or hosting platform for websites. Previously when this has happened Dropbox have just cut the sites links off and stopped them working. I'm wondering if this is a way of putting controls in place for people using the system for things it isn't intended without causing things to stop working.

JohnCC

This example link with some random PDF is also exhibiting the issue, and is easily reproducible. It does not happen upon every access attempt, so you may not get it upon your immediate first or second click.

[Removed as per Community Guidelines]

Just posting to make the point that it is not just CSS and Font embeds or "website" asset content exhibiting this behavior.

Jay

Thanks for the update. If you're still experiencing the issue, and are on a paid Dropbox account, please could you contact the support team directly for them to look into this further.

Tamara29450

https://community.dropbox.com/en/discussion/comment/862957#Comment_862957

Hello,

Will there be an investigation into the ongoing issue? How can this problem, which is currently very disruptive, be resolved?

eagledrop

Any ETA when dl.dropbox… will start working properly again? Thanks

simona flamantes

same problems.. link shared with dl in my website, it takes minutes to open video and most of the times, they can't be opened!

Mark

Are links working, or, just ones you are hosting on a website?

Mark

How can this problem, which is currently very disruptive, be resolved?

Have you tested a link which isnt hosted on your website? I.e. just share a file and use an incognito window to test if it downloads - make sure its incognito so you arent logged in.

If that works then the issue is the fact you are using it for hosting and Dropbox is throttling it.

keposhka

hello!! this problem is happening on forumeiros itself (the portuguese version of forumactif). in my case, it takes almost 6 minutes just to load a page, and that’s really annoying because there are over 60 people who visit my forum almost every day and some people are complaining about the long wait to get in :/

is there any estimate of when this issue will be resolved?

WesLee

I too am having the same issue on my Plus plan. Downloads are delayed to start, pause randomly mid-download, or fail to download entirely.

I've tried different networks, browsers, re-generated share links, but to no avail. It's been 3 days in its current state.

Keith

Hi everyone, thanks for the reports. We’re currently investigating this and I’ll share an update here as soon as I have more information.

In the meantime, please let me know if the issue resolves for you, or if anything changes.

Tamara29450

Hello,

The issue is still ongoing on my forums, as well as on other forums I know that also use Dropbox.

Thank you in advance for your investigation!

eagledrop

Thanks!

Our users rely on Dropbox to review their work with clients. To display media files directly in VideoJS, rather than showing the standard Dropbox preview page with the Dropbox media player, we use the https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/fi/xyz/ format.

This has worked reliably for years, but suddenly started failing intermittently a few days ago.

KILLUPblack

The problem persists in all formats; for example, a video takes 3 minutes to load. What's happening with Dropbox?

WesLee

Day 4: issue is still on-going. Do we have an ETA?

hunzafatimaa

That doesn't sound normal. Since you've reproduced the issue on multiple networks and the delay occurs during "Waiting for Server," the problem may be on Dropbox's side rather than your local network. If other users are seeing the same behavior, it could indicate a server or CDN issue. Gathering examples and contacting Dropbox support with your findings would be the next step.

Mark

Again though, that means that its being used as a hosting platform and tool - which it isnt intended or designed for.

Do your links work if they are NOT being used for websites?

Mark

Do your links work if they are NOT being used for websites?

Mark

Do your links work if they are NOT being used for websites?

KILLUPblack

I didn't mention what I use it for, but I share it with some friends and I use it personally; for example, I pasted the direct link into my VLC and it takes 3 to 4 minutes to play.

Mark

Which is why I asked the question.

Sounds like something is being blocked then when people are using third parties to share and access files. This is the sort of info though that they need rather than just 'it isnt working'.

WesLee

No they do not.

Mark

Your first one to say that, so, if you generate a file that you arent hosting somewhere (if you are) and put it in to an incognito window it doesnt work?

Have you ran any traceroutes?

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