LazyLoad is a lightweight (2.4 kB) and flexible script that speeds up your web application by deferring the loading of your below-the-fold images, animated SVGs, videos and iframes to when they will enter the viewport. It's written in plain "vanilla" JavaScript, it leverages the IntersectionObserver API, it supports responsive images, it optimizes your website for slower connections, and can enable native lazy loading. See all features for more.
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In order to make your content be loaded by LazyLoad, you must use some data- attributes instead of the actual attributes. Examples below.
<img alt="A lazy image" class="lazy" data-src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy.jpg" />
<img alt="A lazy image" class="lazy" src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy-lowQuality.jpg" data-src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy.jpg" />
srcset and sizes:<img
alt="A lazy image"
class="lazy"
data-src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy.jpg"
data-srcset="lazy_400.jpg 400w,
lazy_800.jpg 800w"
data-sizes="100w"
/>
To have a low quality placeholder, add the src attribute pointing to a very small version of the image. E.g. src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy_10.jpg".
picture tag:
<img alt="A lazy image" class="lazy" data-src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy.jpg" />
To have a low quality placeholder, add the src attribute pointing to a very small version of the image to the img tag. E.g. src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy_10.jpg".
picture tag:
<img
alt="A lazy image"
class="lazy"
data-src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy.jpg"
data-srcset="lazy_400.jpg 400w,
lazy_800.jpg 800w"
data-sizes="100w"
/>
To have a low quality placeholder, add the src attribute pointing to a very small version of the image to the img tag. E.g. src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy_10.jpg".
⚠ IMPORTANT NOTE: To display content images on your pages, always use the img tag. This would benefit the SEO and the accessibility of your website. To understand if your images are content or background, ask yourself: "would my website user like to see those images when printing out the page?". If the answer is "yes", then your images are content images and you should avoid using background images to display them.
...
...
image-set:
...
image-set:
...
<object class="lazy" type="image/svg+xml" data-src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy.svg"></object>
<video class="lazy" controls width="620" data-src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy.mp4" data-poster="lazy.jpg">
</video>
Please note that the video poster can be lazily loaded too.
<iframe class="lazy" data-src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazyFrame.html"></iframe>
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The latest, recommended version of LazyLoad is 19.1.3. Note that if you need to support Internet Explorer 11, you need to use version 17.9.0 or below.
Quickly understand how to upgrade from a previous version reading the practical upgrade guide.
The easiest way to use LazyLoad is to include the script from a CDN.
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/vanilla-lazyload@19.1.3/dist/lazyload.min.js"></script>
OR, if you prefer to import it as an ES module:
<script type="module">
import LazyLoad from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/vanilla-lazyload@19.0.3/+esm'
</script>
Then, in your javascript code:
var lazyLoadInstance = new LazyLoad({
// Your custom settings go here
});
To be sure that DOM for your lazy content is ready when you instantiate LazyLoad, place the script tag right before the closing </body> tag.
If more DOM arrives later, e.g. via an AJAX call, you'll need to call lazyLoadInstance.update(); to make LazyLoad check the DOM again.
lazyLoadInstance.update();
async scriptIf you prefer, it's possible to include LazyLoad's script using async script and initialize it as soon as it's loaded.
To do so, you must define the options before including the script. You can pass:
{} an object to get a single instance of LazyLoad[{}, {}] an array of objects to get multiple instances of LazyLoad, each one with different options.<script>
// Set the options globally
// to make LazyLoad self-initialize
window.lazyLoadOptions = {
// Your custom settings go here
};
</script>
Then include the script.
<script
async
src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/vanilla-lazyload@19.1.3/dist/lazyload.min.js"
></script>
Possibly place the script tag right before the closing </body> tag. If you can't do that, LazyLoad could be executed before the browser has loaded all the DOM, and you'll need to call its update() method to make it check the DOM again.
async script + getting the instance referenceSame as above, but you must put the addEventListener code shown below before including the async script.
<script>
// Set the options globally
// to make LazyLoad self-initialize
window.lazyLoadOptions = {
// Your custom settings go here
};
// Listen to the initialization event
// and get the instance of LazyLoad
window.addEventListener(
"LazyLoad::Initialized",
function (event) {
window.lazyLoadInstance = event.detail.instance;
},
false
);
</script>
Then include the script.
<script
async
src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/vanilla-lazyload@19.1.3/dist/lazyload.min.js"
></script>
Now you'll be able to call its methods, like:
lazyLoadInstance.update();
DEMO - SOURCE ← for a single LazyLoad instance
DEMO - SOURCE ← for multiple LazyLoad instances
If you prefer to install LazyLoad locally in your project, you can!
npm install vanilla-lazyload
bower install vanilla-lazyload
Download one the latest releases. The files you need are inside the dist folder. If you don't know which one to pick, use lazyload.min.js, or read about bundles.
Should you install LazyLoad locally, you can import it as ES module like the following:
import LazyLoad from "vanilla-lazyload";
It's also possible (but unadvised) to use the require commonJS syntax.
More information about bundling LazyLoad with WebPack are available on this specific repo.
Take a look at this example of usage of React with LazyLoad on Sandbox.
This implementation takes the same props that you would normally pass to the img tag, but it renders a lazy image. Feel free to fork and improve it!
Inside the dist folder you will find different bundles.
| Filename | Module Type | Advantages |
|---|---|---|
lazyload.min.js |
UMD (Universal Module Definition) | Works pretty much everywhere, even in common-js contexts |
lazyload.iife.min.js |
IIFE (Immediately Invoked Function Expression) | Works as in-page <script src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/">, ~0.5kb smaller than UMD version |
esm/lazyload.js |
ES Module | Exports LazyLoad so you can import it in your project both using <script type="module" src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/"> and a bundler like WebPack or Rollup |
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This is the section where you can find ready to copy & paste code for your convenience.
💡 Use case: when your lazily loaded images show their
alttext and the empty image icon before loading.
CSS
img:not([src]):not([srcset]) {
visibility: hidden;
}
Just that, really.
💡 Use case: when you want to prevent showing unexisting/broken images on your website.
Javascript
var myLazyLoad = new LazyLoad({
// Other options here...
callback_error: (img) => {
// Use the following line only if your images have the `srcset` attribute
img.setAttribute("srcset", "fallback_image@1x.jpg 1x, fallback_image@2x.jpg 2x");
img.setAttribute("src", "fallback_image@1x.jpg");
}
});
NOTE: if the error was generated by a network down (navigator if temporarily offline), vanilla-lazyload will try and load the images again when the network becomes available again.
💡 Use case: when you want to lazily load images, but the number of images change in the scrolling area changes, maybe because they are added asynchronously.
Javascript
var myLazyLoad = new LazyLoad();
// After your content has changed...
myLazyLoad.update();
💡 Use case: you want to use the
use_nativeoption to delegate the loading of images, iframes and videos to the browsers engine where supported, but you also want to lazily load background images.
HTML
<img class="lazy" alt="A lazy image" data-src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy.jpg" />
<iframe class="lazy" data-src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazyFrame.html"></iframe>
<video class="lazy" controls data-src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy.mp4" data-poster="lazy.jpg">...</video>
<object class="lazy" type="image/svg+xml" data-src="https://github.com/verlok/vanilla-lazyload/raw/19.1.3/lazy.svg"></object>
Javascript
// Instance using native lazy loading
const lazyContent = new LazyLoad({
use_native: true // <-- there you go
});
// Instance without native lazy loading
const lazyBackground = new LazyLoad({
// DON'T PASS use_native: true HERE
});
💡 Use case: when your scrolling container is not the main browser window, but a scrolling container.
HTML
```html
<!-- Set of image
$ claude mcp add vanilla-lazyload \
-- python -m otcore.mcp_server <graph>