Google expands Chrome lazy loading to video and audio with new loading="lazy" support

Google is adding native lazy loading support for <video> and <audio> elements in Chrome, letting developers defer heavy media downloads until the content gets close to the viewport. The feature extends Chrome’s existing lazy loading behavior for <img> and <iframe> and aims to improve page load performance while cutting unnecessary data usage.

The rollout is real and already moving through Chrome’s release pipeline. ChromeStatus lists the feature as “Lazy loading for video and audio elements,” and Google’s official Chrome 148 beta notes confirm that developers can use loading="lazy" on both media elements.

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This change matters most on media-heavy pages. Instead of downloading several videos or audio files up front, Chrome can wait until those elements are near the visible part of the page, which reduces initial network and rendering work. Google says this should improve page load performance and reduce data use.

Why Google is doing this

Before this addition, developers often had to rely on JavaScript workarounds such as IntersectionObserver to delay media loading. Chrome’s own feature entry says native lazy loading lets the browser handle that work directly, using network-aware thresholds and better integration with media behavior.

Google also says the browser can handle interactions with autoplay and preload more cleanly through a native implementation than many custom scripts can. Another key benefit is that offscreen media will no longer block the window.onload event.

That makes this more than a small HTML tweak. It gives developers a simpler, declarative way to optimize media-heavy pages without bolting on extra JavaScript logic.

What is shipping and when

How it works

Developers will be able to add loading="lazy" directly to <video> and <audio> tags. Chrome then decides when to fetch those media resources based on how close they are to the viewport, similar to how native lazy loading already works for images and iframes.

Google’s Blink “Intent to Ship” post says the goal is straightforward: defer media resource loading until the element is near the viewport. That aligns the behavior of video and audio with existing native lazy loading patterns already familiar to web developers.

Because the feature lives in the browser engine, it can cooperate better with Chrome’s preload scanner and media pipeline than many script-based workarounds. That is one reason Google frames it as both a performance and developer-experience improvement.

What this means for websites

For users, the most noticeable benefit should be faster initial page loads on pages packed with media. Sites that embed several offscreen videos or audio players should avoid loading all of them immediately.

For developers, the change can reduce the need for custom lazy-loading code. Instead of wiring up viewport observers and dynamically setting sources with JavaScript, they can use a native HTML attribute and let Chrome handle the timing.

The broader value is that performance optimizations become easier to adopt. When the browser handles more of the hard part, fewer sites need fragile custom implementations that add code weight or break in edge cases.

Quick breakdown

• Chrome is adding loading="lazy" support to <video> and <audio>.
• The feature appears in Chrome 148 beta and is tracked for shipping in milestone 148.
• It aims to improve page load performance and reduce data use.
• Chrome says native handling also improves interaction with autoplay, preload, and window.onload.

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