The Northern Tasmanian man, who cannot be identified under Section 194K of the Evidence Act because it could identify a victim, pleaded guilty to possessing child exploitation material and six videos containing bestiality product on December 27, 2016.

Crown prosecutor Luke Brett said police searched the man's house in relation to an alleged indecent assault of a young girl.

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The laptop was seized but police could not gain access to the hard drive until July 2017.

"His conduct is mitigated in that it was a personal laptop which was password protected," Mr Brett said.

"The accused helped police access the hard drive... and provided them with the password."

The material comprised 152 images and 104 videos of child exploitation material ranging from category 1 to category 4.

Mr Brett said it was a serious offending because possession of the chile exploitation material fostered and encouraged those who produced such material.

"It creates a market and normalises the conduct," he said.

Defence counsel James Oxley said there had been significant delay in bringing the proceedings to court which had affected his client's mental health.

He said the search had occurred in 2016 and a complaint was not laid until January 2018.

"He was not arrested until November 2019 despite the material being downloaded in 2017," he said.

He asked Justice Robert Pearce to take into account the man's cooperation with police.

Justice Pearce adjourned sentencing until June 3 at 2pm.