Page weight & requests
Every request the page makes on a cold load: request count and total transfer size over the wire.
At a glance the headline numbers for Page weight & requests
Every request the page makes on a cold load: request count and total transfer size over the wire.
The typical page weighs 2.5 MB across 72 requests.
Distribution & median LCP site count and median LCP at each level of page weight & requests — n
Passing LCP by page weight & requests — n which level passes the LCP most often
Page weight & requests — n 72. p75 122. p99 436. At the low end (1–2): LCP 1.3s. At the high end (>p98): LCP 1.7s. computed
Distribution & median LCP site count and median LCP at each level of page weight & requests — size
Passing LCP by page weight & requests — size which level passes the LCP most often
Page weight & requests — size 2.5 MB. p75 4.7 MB. p99 34.1 MB. At the low end (0 KB): LCP 1.5s. At the high end (>p98): LCP 1.8s. computed
Why this matters for the Core Web Vitals, and where to start fixing it
Page weight is a bandwidth problem. The network can only move so many bytes per second and every resource on the page competes for that capacity. The LCP image does not load alone. It shares bandwidth with every script, stylesheet and tracking pixel that loads at the same time. A heavier page means the main content arrives later.
Request count matters next to the bytes. Every request adds queueing and scheduling overhead. On a busy connection important requests wait behind unimportant ones. Script bytes keep costing after the download. The main thread has to parse and execute them, and that delays interactions (INP). The resource type breakdown shows where the bytes sit.
How does page weight affect the Core Web Vitals?
Page weight & requests correlate with the LCP. Page weight separates passing sites from failing sites more than request count does. Where the page weight is low, 83% of sites pass the LCP. Where it is high, 73% do. The decline is gradual. There is no point where sites suddenly start failing.
Chrome field data from 94,910 sites, representing millions of real page loads. How we measured.