The State of Web Vitals

Shopify video and audio hosting sources and the Core Web Vitals

Among sites embedding <video> or <audio> media, 50.3% (909) stream from dedicated external media CDNs and reach 96% good LCP (1.4s median), while the 57.6% (1,041) serving media directly from their own origin record 97% good LCP (1.3s median).

Field data PhoneDesktopAll Scope All sites October 2026 edition · Desktop field outcomes · Shopify sites only
Shopify Scoped to 8,248 sites out of 203,892 analyzed (cms) Compare with all sites →

57.6% of Shopify sites use self-hosted media video and audio media source, and 97% of those sites have a good LCP, against 97% of all Shopify sites.

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Shopify: 8,246 crawled sites · 3,818 with desktop field data · 1,807 sites with video and audio media sourceBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
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LCP pass rate

Sites with self-hosted media video and audio media source have a good LCP most often: 97%, against 97% of all Shopify sites. Sites with CDN-hosted media media source have it least often, at 96%.

SitesGood, needs improvement, poor LCPMedian
All Shopify sites3,81897%1.3s
Self-hosted (same origin) 57.6%56097%1.3s
External media CDN / host 50.3%50896%1.4s
GoodNeeds improvementPoorSites: with Chrome field data
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Shopify: 8,246 crawled sites · 3,818 with desktop field data · 1,807 sites with video and audio media sourceBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
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Video and audio media source usage

Self-hosted media is the most used: 57.6% of Shopify sites.

Sites using each option (sites can use more than one) 1,807 sites
Self-hosted (same origin) 57.6% External media CDN / host 50.3%
Self-hosted (same origin) 57.6% External media CDN / host 50.3%
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Shopify: 8,246 crawled sites · 3,818 with desktop field data · 1,807 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 self-hosted media and CDN-hosted media sits in resource load delay: 610 ms median for self-hosted media against 687 ms for CDN-hosted media. Overall median field LCP is 1.4s for self-hosted media (TTFB 303 ms, load delay 610 ms, load duration 132 ms, render delay 349 ms) versus 1.4s for CDN-hosted media.

Median LCP phase breakdown (Chrome field p75) Load delay Median LCP
Shopify sites with video and audio media source 824314 ms642 ms351 ms642 mslab 636 ms1.4s
Self-hosted (same origin) 473303 ms610 ms349 ms610 mslab 603 ms1.4s
External media CDN / host 429324 ms687 ms355 ms687 mslab 676 ms1.4s
TTFB Resource load delay Resource load time Element render delay
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Shopify: 8,246 crawled sites · 3,818 with desktop field data · 1,807 sites with video and audio media sourceBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
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Video and audio media source per framework

On jQuery, 62% of sites use CDN-hosted media video and audio media source, and 95% of jQuery sites have a good LCP, against 97% of all sites.

FrameworkVideo and audio media source on its sitesGood LCP
Shopify sites with video and audio media source 1,807 sitesSelf-hosted (same origin) 58%External media CDN / host 50%97%
jQuery 631 sitesExternal media CDN / host 62%Self-hosted (same origin) 46%95%
Self-hosted (same origin) External media CDN / host
The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Shopify: 8,246 crawled sites · 3,818 with desktop field data · 1,807 sites with video and audio media sourceBy Arjen Karel · corewebvitals.io/state-of-cwv
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Media hosting source or the framework

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

On jQuery, 96% of sites with self-hosted media video and audio media source have a good LCP, against 95% of jQuery sites with CDN-hosted media. Within jQuery, sites with self-hosted media and CDN-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 (57.6% of media-using sites, 1,041) can saturate origin bandwidth and contend with critical CSS and hero poster images, resulting in 97% good LCP (1.3s median). Offloading video streams to a dedicated media CDN (50.3% of media-using sites, 909) lifts good LCP to 96% (1.4s median).

The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Shopify: 8,246 crawled sites · 3,818 with desktop field data · 1,807 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, 50.3% use external media CDNs (96% good LCP) versus 57.6% self-hosting on origin (97% good LCP).

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The State of Web Vitals · October 2026 · Shopify: 8,246 crawled sites · 3,818 with desktop field data · 1,807 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 · 8,246 crawled Shopify sites (3,818 with desktop Chrome field data, 1,807 sites with video and audio media source, October 2026) · How we measured