The State of Web Vitals

LCP element type

What the LCP element is: image, background image, text, or video.

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

At a glance the headline numbers for LCP element type

What the LCP element is: image, background image, text, or video.

5
Categories
90,431 sites
43.2%
Top share
img
1.5s
Top LCP
Median for img

The LCP is an img element on 43.2% of sites. On 29.9% it is a CSS background image.

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

LCP element type who uses what, and how fast each group loads

Median LCP
0
0.5s
1s
1.5s
2s
2.5s
3s
3.5s
4s
text1.4s25% of sites
img1.5s43% of sites
video1.6s2% of sites
background-image1.6s30% of sites
VariantShare of sitesMedian
text 22,163 sites
25%
1.4s
img 39,050 sites
43%
1.5s
video 2,202 sites
2%
1.6s
background-image 27,014 sites
30%
1.6s

Little daylight between the groups: every variant sits near 1.4s median LCP. computed

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

Passing LCP per LCP element type which group passes the LCP most often

VariantSitesPassing LCPLCP
Img 43.2% 39,050 85% 1.5s
Text 24.5% 22,163 84% 1.4s
Video 2.4% 2,202 81% 1.6s
Background-image 29.9% 27,014 78% 1.6s
Good Needs Improvement Poor Sorted best-passing first · median colored by its own rating · pass = good LCP (2.5s at p75) · one value per site

85% of Img sites pass LCP. Background-image trails 7 points behind. computed

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

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

What the LCP element is decides the playbook. An img can be prioritized, preloaded and right-sized. A CSS background image has a discovery problem first: the browser cannot see it until the CSS applies. Text means rendering waits on a font, not an image. Video means the poster frame is the candidate to optimize.

Text LCP is the underrated option. A headline renders as soon as its font is ready, no megabytes involved. A fast headline beats a slow hero, and a site gets to choose which one it leads with.

How does this affect the Core Web Vitals?

LCP element type correlates with the LCP. With Img, 85% of sites pass the LCP. With Background-image, 78% do.

Go fix it Background images are evil → Keep text visible during font load → Optimize the LCP image →
Related signals LCP loading attribute → LCP image format → LCP origin → LCP priority hint → Chrome field data from 94,910 sites, representing millions of real page loads · How we measured