diff --git a/components/resources/library/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/ResourceCaches.kt b/components/resources/library/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/ResourceCaches.kt
index 6e96b3fa6d..b9f463b156 100644
--- a/components/resources/library/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/ResourceCaches.kt
+++ b/components/resources/library/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/ResourceCaches.kt
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import kotlinx.coroutines.sync.Mutex
 import kotlinx.coroutines.sync.withLock
 
 internal class AsyncCache<K, V> {
-    private val cacheScope = CoroutineScope(SupervisorJob())
+    private val cacheScope = CoroutineScope(SupervisorJob() + Dispatchers.Unconfined)
     private val mutex = Mutex()
     private val cache = mutableMapOf<K, SharedRequest<V>>()
 
@@ -25,13 +25,15 @@ internal class AsyncCache<K, V> {
         val request = mutex.withLock {
             var cached = cache[key]
             if (cached == null || cached.deferred.isCancelled) {
-                cached = SharedRequest(cacheScope.async { load() })
+                //the request is created lazily to start it outside the critical mutex section
+                cached = SharedRequest(cacheScope.async(start = CoroutineStart.LAZY) { load() })
                 cache[key] = cached
             }
             cached.listenersCount++
             cached
         }
          return try {
+             request.deferred.start()
              request.deferred.await()
          } finally {
              mutex.withLock {
diff --git a/components/resources/library/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/ResourceReader.kt b/components/resources/library/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/ResourceReader.kt
index aa2467ec18..084e9c0050 100644
--- a/components/resources/library/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/ResourceReader.kt
+++ b/components/resources/library/src/commonMain/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/ResourceReader.kt
@@ -26,6 +26,15 @@ suspend fun readResourceBytes(path: String): ByteArray = DefaultResourceReader.r
 @InternalResourceApi
 fun getResourceUri(path: String): String = DefaultResourceReader.getUri(path)
 
+/**
+ * Interface for reading resource files.
+ *
+ * **Warning:**
+ * - On all platforms except Web, synchronous loading of resources is expected inside this method.
+ * - On Android and JVM, implementations must not switch to the Main dispatcher
+ *   (e.g. via `withContext(Dispatchers.Main)`) as this can cause a deadlock!
+ *   See: `DeadlockReproducer.kt`
+ */
 @ExperimentalResourceApi
 interface ResourceReader {
     suspend fun read(path: String): ByteArray
diff --git a/components/resources/library/src/desktopTest/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/DeadlockReproducer.kt b/components/resources/library/src/desktopTest/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/DeadlockReproducer.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6a8734cb55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/resources/library/src/desktopTest/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/DeadlockReproducer.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+package org.jetbrains.compose.resources
+
+import androidx.compose.foundation.Image
+import androidx.compose.runtime.CompositionLocalProvider
+import androidx.compose.ui.test.ExperimentalTestApi
+import androidx.compose.ui.test.v2.runComposeUiTest
+import kotlinx.coroutines.Dispatchers
+import kotlinx.coroutines.withContext
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean
+import kotlin.concurrent.thread
+import kotlin.test.Test
+import kotlin.test.assertFalse
+import kotlin.test.assertTrue
+
+@OptIn(ExperimentalTestApi::class)
+class DeadlockReproducer {
+
+    @Test
+    fun deadlockReproducer() {
+        val deadlockResourceReader = object : ResourceReader by DefaultResourceReader {
+            override suspend fun read(path: String): ByteArray {
+                val arr = DefaultResourceReader.read(path)
+                return withContext(Dispatchers.Main) { arr }
+            }
+        }
+        val isComposed = AtomicBoolean(false)
+        val isDeadlocked = AtomicBoolean(true)
+
+        val testThread = thread {
+            runComposeUiTest {
+                setContent {
+                    CompositionLocalProvider(
+                        LocalResourceReader provides deadlockResourceReader,
+                        LocalComposeEnvironment provides TestComposeEnvironment
+                    ) {
+                        isComposed.set(true)
+                        Image(painterResource(TestDrawableResource("1.png")), null)
+                    }
+                }
+                isDeadlocked.set(false)
+            }
+        }
+
+        testThread.join(300)
+        assertTrue(isComposed.get(), "Composition is not composed")
+        assertTrue(isDeadlocked.get(), "Deadlock was not detected")
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun noDeadlockReproducer() {
+        val isComposed = AtomicBoolean(false)
+        val isDeadlocked = AtomicBoolean(true)
+
+        val testThread = thread {
+            runComposeUiTest {
+                setContent {
+                    CompositionLocalProvider(
+                        LocalResourceReader provides DefaultResourceReader,
+                        LocalComposeEnvironment provides TestComposeEnvironment
+                    ) {
+                        isComposed.set(true)
+                        Image(painterResource(TestDrawableResource("1.png")), null)
+                    }
+                }
+                isDeadlocked.set(false)
+            }
+        }
+
+        testThread.join(300)
+        assertTrue(isComposed.get(), "Composition is not composed")
+        assertFalse(isDeadlocked.get(), "Deadlock was detected")
+    }
+}
diff --git a/components/resources/library/src/jvmAndAndroidTest/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/ResourceLoadingThreadTest.kt b/components/resources/library/src/jvmAndAndroidTest/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/ResourceLoadingThreadTest.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fa637fd596
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/resources/library/src/jvmAndAndroidTest/kotlin/org/jetbrains/compose/resources/ResourceLoadingThreadTest.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+package org.jetbrains.compose.resources
+
+import kotlinx.coroutines.*
+import kotlinx.coroutines.test.runTest
+import kotlin.test.Test
+import kotlin.test.assertEquals
+import kotlin.test.assertSame
+import kotlin.time.Duration.Companion.milliseconds
+
+class ResourceLoadingThreadTest {
+
+    @Test
+    fun testResourceIsLoadedOnTheCallingThread() {
+        val callerThread = Thread.currentThread()
+        val cache = AsyncCache<String, Thread>()
+
+        val loadingThread = runResourceBlocking {
+            cache.getOrLoad("key") { Thread.currentThread() }
+        }
+
+        assertSame(callerThread, loadingThread, "A resource must be loaded on the calling thread")
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun testTheSharedRequestIsNotCancelledByTheFirstCaller() = runTest {
+        val cache = AsyncCache<String, String>()
+        val allowLoadToFinish = CompletableDeferred<Unit>()
+        lateinit var result: String
+
+        val firstCaller = GlobalScope.launch(Dispatchers.Default) {
+            cache.getOrLoad("key") {
+                allowLoadToFinish.await()
+                "a value"
+            }
+        }
+        val secondCaller = GlobalScope.launch(Dispatchers.Default) {
+            result = cache.getOrLoad("key") {
+               error("must reuse the shared request")
+           }
+        }
+
+        delay(100.milliseconds)
+        firstCaller.cancel()
+        allowLoadToFinish.complete(Unit)
+        secondCaller.join()
+
+        assertEquals("a value", result)
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun testWithContextInsideAReaderDoesNotDeadlock() = runTest {
+        val cache = AsyncCache<String, String>()
+
+        val value = withTimeoutOrNull(100.milliseconds)  {
+            runResourceBlocking {
+                cache.getOrLoad("key") {
+                    //a custom resource reader is free to move its IO to another dispatcher
+                    withContext(Dispatchers.IO) { delay(50); "a value" }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        assertEquals("a value", value)
+    }
+}