The State of Web Vitals

Video and audio hosting sources on React sites

Among sites embedding <video> or <audio> media, 85.5% (1,574) stream from dedicated external media CDNs and reach 91% good LCP (1.3s median), while the 15.9% (293) serving media directly from their own origin record 63% good LCP (2.2s median).

Field data PhoneDesktopAll Scope All sites October 2026 edition · All devices field outcomes · React sites only
React Scoped to 9,570 sites out of 210,902 analyzed (frameworks) Compare with all sites →

85.5% of React sites use CDN-hosted media video and audio media source, and 91% of those sites have a good LCP, against 85% of all React sites.

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · React: 9,570 crawled sites · 9,110 with all devices field data · 1,840 sites with video and audio media sourceBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
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LCP pass rate

Sites with CDN-hosted media video and audio media source have a good LCP most often: 91%, against 85% of all React sites. Sites with self-hosted media media source have it least often, at 63%.

SitesGood, needs improvement, poor LCPMedian
All React sites9,11085%1.4s
External media CDN / host 85.5%1,49991%1.3s
Self-hosted (same origin) 15.9%28263%2.2s
GoodNeeds improvementPoorSites: with Chrome field data
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · React: 9,570 crawled sites · 9,110 with all devices field data · 1,840 sites with video and audio media sourceBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
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Video and audio media source usage

CDN-hosted media is the most used: 85.5% of React sites.

Sites using each option (sites can use more than one) 1,840 sites
External media CDN / host 85.5% Self-hosted (same origin) 15.9%
External media CDN / host 85.5% Self-hosted (same origin) 15.9%
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · React: 9,570 crawled sites · 9,110 with all devices field data · 1,840 sites with video and audio media sourceBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
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LCP phase breakdown by video and audio hosting source

Across the four LCP sub-parts in Chrome's field data, the largest gap between CDN-hosted media and self-hosted media sits in time to first byte (TTFB): 445 ms median for CDN-hosted media against 1193 ms for self-hosted media. Overall median field LCP is 1.3s for CDN-hosted media (TTFB 445 ms, load delay 491 ms, load duration 138 ms, render delay 153 ms) versus 2.1s for self-hosted media.

Median LCP phase breakdown (Chrome field p75) Load delay Median LCP
React sites with video and audio media source 1,300494 ms484 ms484 mslab 484 ms1.4s
Self-hosted (same origin) 2061193 ms377 ms298 ms377 mslab 377 ms2.1s
External media CDN / host 1,110445 ms491 ms491 mslab 491 ms1.3s
TTFB Resource load delay Resource load time Element render delay
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · React: 9,570 crawled sites · 9,110 with all devices field data · 1,840 sites with video and audio media sourceBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
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Video and audio media source per platform

Wix sets the video and audio media source to CDN-hosted media on 100% of its sites, and 94% of Wix sites have a good LCP, against 85% of all sites. WordPress sets the video and audio media source to self-hosted media on 77% of its sites, and 61% of WordPress sites have a good LCP.

PlatformVideo and audio media source on its sitesGood LCP
React sites with video and audio media source 1,840 sitesExternal media CDN / host 86%Self-hosted (same origin) 16%85%
Wix 1,405 sitesExternal media CDN / host 100%94%
WordPress 344 sitesSelf-hosted (same origin) 77%External media CDN / host 30%61%
External media CDN / host Self-hosted (same origin)
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · React: 9,570 crawled sites · 9,110 with all devices field data · 1,840 sites with video and audio media sourceBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
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Media hosting source or the platform

Does the platform explain the video and audio media source difference?

On WordPress, 59% of sites with CDN-hosted media video and audio media source have a good LCP, against 61% of WordPress sites with self-hosted media. Within WordPress, sites with CDN-hosted media and self-hosted media have a good LCP about equally often.

Why streaming large video files from the primary origin saturates LCP bandwidth

Unlike small images or fonts, a single hero <video> file often weighs several megabytes. Serving heavy MP4/WebM streams from the same origin (15.9% of media-using sites, 293) can saturate origin bandwidth and contend with critical CSS and hero poster images, resulting in 63% good LCP (2.2s median). Offloading video streams to a dedicated media CDN (85.5% of media-using sites, 1,574) lifts good LCP to 91% (1.3s median).

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · React: 9,570 crawled sites · 9,110 with all devices field data · 1,840 sites with video and audio media sourceBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
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Understanding video and audio hosting sources

Serve <video> files from a dedicated edge CDN with HTTP range-request streaming, set preload="none" or preload="metadata" on non-hero videos, and provide a lightweight WebP/AVIF poster image for above-the-fold videos. Across all media-using sites, 85.5% use external media CDNs (91% good LCP) versus 15.9% self-hosting on origin (63% good LCP).

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The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · React: 9,570 crawled sites · 9,110 with all devices field data · 1,840 sites with video and audio media sourceBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
Related signals font-display strategy → Preloaded fonts → Uses @import → Stylesheet loading mix → By Arjen Karel · 9,570 crawled React sites (9,110 with all devices Chrome field data, 1,840 sites with video and audio media source, October 2026) · How we measured