How to enable lazy loading to speed up pages in Chrome

Google is adding a new lazy loading feature in Chrome to speed up web pages load times while reducing bandwidth usage on mobile devices. In its current form, the browser downloads all the images, text, and code to render a web page to the end user, but using lazy loading, Chrome will only request and process elements (images and iframes) visible on the screen, and everything else will load when needed.

Lazy loading isn’t completely new, as million of websites already include a lazy load mechanism to load pages to users, but bringing the feature to the web browser should help to speed up pages that don’t offer such feature.

In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to give Chrome’s lazy loading a spin on Windows 10, macOS, or Linux.

How to enable lazy load in Chrome

To speed up page loading times in Chrome with the lazy load feature, use these steps:

1. Open Chrome.

   Quick Tip: You must be running Google Chrome version 70+ to enable the feature. You can check if you’re running the latest version on main menu > Help > About Google Chrome. If you’re not running the required version, you’ll need to install Chrome Canary for Windows 10.

2. Type the following path in the address bar and press Enter:

   chrome://flags/#enable-lazy-image-loading

3. Use the drop-down menu on the right and select Enabled (or Disable to turn the feature off).

   

4. Type the following path in the address bar and press Enter:

   chrome://flags/#enable-lazy-frame-loading

5. Use the drop-down menu on the right and select Enabled (or Disable to turn the feature off).

   

6. Click the Relaunch now button.

Once you’ve completed the steps, Chrome will only load images and iframe elements when needed to be displayed on the screen.