In order to decode and display a previously compressed digital image portion, a first portion of this image being previously decoded and displayed in a first display window:—a request of a user defining a direction of movement in the image is read (115);—a new display window in the image is determined (119) as a function of this movement;—at least one area to be decoded and a decoding direction is determined (121) from the relative position of the new display window with respect to the first display window and this area is decoded and displayed (125, 127, 129) according to the decoding direction determined.