Name: Image loading strategies on Wix sites (October 2026) - The State of Web Vitals
Creator: Arjen Karel

90.6% of Wix sites use CSS background image loading strategies, and 94% of those sites have a good LCP, against 94% of all Wix sites.

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Wix: 5,621 crawled sites · 5,333 with all devices field data · 5,619 sites with image loading strategiesBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv

1

LCP pass rate

Sites with CSS background image loading strategies have a good LCP most often: 94%, against 94% of all Wix sites. Sites with lazy below-the-fold image loading have it least often, at 93%.

SitesGood, needs improvement, poor LCPMedian

All Wix sites5,33394%1.2s

CSS background images 90.6%4,82894%1.2s

Eager above-the-fold <img> 99.2%5,28894%1.2s

Lazy above-the-fold (loading="lazy") 42.1%2,23794%1.2s

Eager below-the-fold <img> 74.2%3,96794%1.3s

Lazy below-the-fold (loading="lazy") 61.7%3,28593%1.3s

GoodNeeds improvementPoorSites: with Chrome field data

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Wix: 5,621 crawled sites · 5,333 with all devices field data · 5,619 sites with image loading strategiesBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv

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Image loading strategies usage

Eager above-the-fold is the most used: 99.2% of Wix sites. CSS background is 90.6% of Wix sites.

Sites using each option (sites can use more than one) 5,619 sites

Eager above-the-fold <img> 99.2% CSS background images 90.6% Eager below-the-fold <img> 74.2% Lazy below-the-fold (loading="lazy") 61.7% Lazy above-the-fold (loading="lazy") 42.1%

Eager above-the-fold <img> 99.2% CSS background images 90.6% Eager below-the-fold <img> 74.2% Lazy below-the-fold (loading="lazy") 61.7% Lazy above-the-fold (loading="lazy") 42.1%

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Wix: 5,621 crawled sites · 5,333 with all devices field data · 5,619 sites with image loading strategiesBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv

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How page-wide image loading shifts the four LCP phases

Across the four LCP sub-parts in Chrome's field data, the largest gap between CSS background and lazy below-the-fold sits in resource load delay: 454 ms median for CSS background against 490 ms for lazy below-the-fold. Overall median field LCP is 1.2s for CSS background (TTFB 419 ms, load delay 454 ms, load duration 136 ms, render delay 150 ms) versus 1.3s for lazy below-the-fold.

Median LCP phase breakdown (Chrome field p75) Load delay Median LCP

Wix sites with image loading strategies 3,945419 ms455 ms137 ms151 ms455 mslab 455 ms1.2s

CSS background images 3,571419 ms454 ms136 ms150 ms454 mslab 454 ms1.2s

Lazy above-the-fold (loading="lazy") 1,662426 ms455 ms139 ms155 ms455 mslab 455 ms1.2s

Eager above-the-fold <img> 3,923418 ms455 ms136 ms151 ms455 mslab 455 ms1.2s

Eager below-the-fold <img> 2,985428 ms480 ms146 ms148 ms480 mslab 480 ms1.2s

Lazy below-the-fold (loading="lazy") 2,452431 ms490 ms151 ms150 ms490 mslab 490 ms1.3s

TTFB Resource load delay Resource load time Element render delay

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Wix: 5,621 crawled sites · 5,333 with all devices field data · 5,619 sites with image loading strategiesBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv

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Image loading strategies per framework

React sets the image loading strategies to CSS background on 91% of its sites, and 94% of React sites have a good LCP, against 94% of all sites.

FrameworkImage loading strategies on its sitesGood LCP

Wix sites with image loading strategies 5,619 sitesEager above-the-fold <img> 99%CSS background images 91%Eager below-the-fold <img> 74%Lazy below-the-fold (loading="lazy") 62%Lazy above-the-fold (loading="lazy") 42%94%

React 5,618 sitesEager above-the-fold <img> 99%CSS background images 91%Eager below-the-fold <img> 74%Lazy below-the-fold (loading="lazy") 62%Lazy above-the-fold (loading="lazy") 42%94%

Eager above-the-fold <img> CSS background images Eager below-the-fold <img> Lazy below-the-fold (loading="lazy") Lazy above-the-fold (loading="lazy")

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Wix: 5,621 crawled sites · 5,333 with all devices field data · 5,619 sites with image loading strategiesBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv

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Image loading strategies or the framework

Does the framework explain the image loading strategies difference?

Almost every site with CSS background image loading strategies is a React site, and almost every React site has CSS background image loading strategies, so the data can't tell CSS background image loading strategies and React apart.

How browser viewport intersection gates lazy image fetches

Standard <img> elements without loading="lazy" are queued by the HTML preload scanner before layout runs (455 ms median LCP load delay on sites with eager above-the-fold images). When loading="lazy" is present on an image inside the initial viewport (42.1% of sites), Chromium withholds the network request until style and layout confirm viewport intersection, pushing median LCP resource load delay to 455 ms.

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Wix: 5,621 crawled sites · 5,333 with all devices field data · 5,619 sites with image loading strategiesBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv

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Understanding image loading strategies

Keep above-the-fold hero and banner images eager while adding loading="lazy" to below-the-fold content and product grids. Across the web, 99.2% of sites ship eager above-the-fold images (94% good LCP, 455 ms load delay), 74.2% still leave below-the-fold images eager (94% good LCP), and 42.1% accidentally lazy-load an image inside the initial viewport (455 ms median load delay).

Go fix it Defer offscreen images → Fix: LCP image was lazily loaded → Defer background images →

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Wix: 5,621 crawled sites · 5,333 with all devices field data · 5,619 sites with image loading strategiesBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv