GoKawiilAndy Walker / Android Authority
TL;DR Google is testing lazy loading of video and audio elements for Chrome 148.
This feature defers the loading of video and audio resources to speed up page performance and reduce data usage.
Lazy loading will roll out for all users on desktop and mobile.
Chrome 148 is currently in development and is expected to roll out in mid-April. When the update arrives, it could make your daily browsing a little faster. Google is testing lazy loading for video and audio elements (via PCWorld).
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If you’re unfamiliar with lazy loading, it’s a feature that delays the loading of non-critical, off-screen resources until they’re needed. The result is improved page load performance and reduced bandwidth usage. For example, say you navigated to a website with a bunch of images. Normally, all elements of the page would need to be loaded before you could go about your business. Lazy loading, on the other hand, defers loading images not in your immediate view until you scroll down to them, allowing the page to load faster.
What's your favorite Chrome trick? 216 votes Reading mode! 36 % Listen to this page (prev. Read Aloud). 7 % Switch to Desktop view. 13 % The built-in language translator. 11 % Sync'ed Recent tabs with my other devices. 10 % Tab groups. 6 % All of the above. 14 % Other. Tell us in the comments. 3 %
Chrome and Chromium-based browsers already have built-in lazy loading support, but only for images and iframes. This update would introduce support for lazy loading of video and audio elements. But don’t expect to see a difference with YouTube video embeds; lazy loading is already in effect for these videos, since they’re embedded using iframes.
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