Google Chrome is planning to enhance its lazy loading feature by adding support for audio and video content, extending a capability that has existed in the browser since 2019.
Lazy loading is a technique that postpones the loading of heavier elements so that lighter parts of a webpage appear first, allowing users to interact with the page more quickly.
Since its introduction in 2019, Chrome and other browsers based on Chromium have applied lazy loading to images and iframes, meaning these elements only load when users scroll near them, which helps reduce initial loading time and boosts overall performance.
Now, Google has announced that it is experimenting with applying lazy loading to video and audio elements as well. This update will affect multimedia content placed within HTML video and audio tags.
Although audio and video elements are not as frequently used as images or iframes, they are still present on many websites. Expanding lazy loading to include them could further optimize webpage speed and efficiency.