The State of Web Vitals

Image fetchpriority

fetchpriority attributes on images: high, low or default.

Field data PhoneDesktopAll Scope All sites Q1 2026 edition · Desktop field outcomes
Metric LCP INP CLS
1

At a glance the headline numbers for Image fetchpriority

fetchpriority attributes on images: high, low or default.

3
Categories
In the distribution
96.6%
Fleet share
Top: auto
95.4%
Sites with any
Of auto

2.3% of images carry fetchpriority=high.

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · desktop field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
2

The image fetchpriority mix who uses what, and how fast each group loads

Median LCP (sites using feature)
0
0.5s
1s
1.5s
2s
2.5s
3s
3.5s
4s
Auto1.4s97% of sites
High1.6s2% of sites
Low1.3s1% of sites
VariantShare of sitesMedian
Auto
97%
1.4s
High
2%
1.6s
Low
1%
1.3s

Image fetchpriority. On the fleet: 96.6% auto, 2.3% high, 1.0% low. 95.4% of sites use at least one auto.

Lowest-share bucket: LCP 1.4s. Highest-share bucket: LCP 1.4s. r = +0.43.

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · desktop field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
3

Passing LCP per bucket every category and count level at once - color is the pass rate

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Auto 96.6%
82
84
85
86
88
89
88
86
86
85
87
83
High 2.3%
88
79
80
85
81
84
89
92
79
92
85
Low 1%
86
92
89
90
94
92
92
89
84
94
91
84
← few of this category on the pagemany →
60%95%+ of sites passing LCP Faded cells: under 100 sites

Each row is a category, each column its own count bucket (few on the left, many on the right); the cell is the share of those sites passing LCP.

No category moves the LCP pass rate much, however many a site ships. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · desktop field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
4

Few vs many - does quantity cost LCP? the pass rate with few vs many of each category

60%70%80%90%100% few → many
High 2.3% 88% → 85%
Auto 96.6% 82% → 83%
Low 1% 86% → 89%
% of sites passing LCP · hollow ring = pages with few, solid dot = pages with many

Per category: the pass rate among pages with FEW of it (hollow ring) against pages with MANY (solid dot), worst trend first. Thin buckets are excluded from the endpoints.

More High costs the most: the LCP pass rate falls from 88% with few to 85% with many. computed

The State of Web Vitals · Q1 2026 · 94,910 sites · desktop field datacorewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
5

Why this matters for the Core Web Vitals, and where to start fixing it

fetchpriority overrides the browser's guess about which images matter. high on the hero pulls it forward in the download queue. low on hidden carousel frames and footer logos pushes them out of the way of the critical path.

The pattern that works: exactly one high (the LCP image), low on things that visibly do not matter, default everywhere else. The signal only means something while it is rare.

How does this affect the Core Web Vitals?

Of the 3 categories, High separates passing sites from failing sites the most. Where High is rare: 88% pass the LCP. Where it is common: 80%.

Go fix it Guide to resource prioritization → Preload the LCP image → Fix slow hero images →
Related signals Script loading mix → Iframe loading → Image format mix → Font format mix → Chrome field data from 94,910 sites, representing millions of real page loads · How we measured