Should I lazy load images below the fold?

Question

As an e-commerce store owner, I'm trying to optimize my website's performance and user experience. I've heard about lazy loading images, but I'm unsure about its implementation, benefits, and potential drawbacks. I want to understand when and how to use lazy loading effectively, especially for product pages with multiple images. What are the best practices for implementing lazy loading, and how can it impact my site's speed and conversion rates?

Muhammed Tüfekyapan · Accepted Answer

Should I Lazy Load Images Below the Fold? Lazy loading defers the download of below-fold images until the user scrolls near them. This reduces initial page weight by 40-70% for image-heavy pages, directly improving LCP and Time to Interactive scores. Lazy Loading Impact Page TypeInitial Load ReductionLCP Impact Collection pages (grid of 24 products)50-70% reductionHigh - many below-fold images Product pages (multiple gallery images)30-50% reductionMedium - hero image loads eagerly Homepage (editorial layout)20-40% reductionMedium Blog posts with images40-60% reductionHigh - long-form content Implementation Native HTML lazy loading (recommended)

- Supported in all modern browsers. No JavaScript required. Works automatically with Shopify's image render tags. Critical: Don't lazy load hero/LCP images The hero image and any image visible without scrolling should use loading="eager" or no loading attribute. Lazy loading these causes LCP to dramatically worsen. Set explicit dimensions Lazy-loaded images need explicit width and height attributes to prevent layout shift (CLS) as they load. Without dimensions, the page reflows when the image appears. Shopify theme implementation In Liquid: {{ image.alt }}

. Modern Shopify themes (Dawn) already implement this correctly. When Lazy Loading Hurts Lazy loading hurts if applied too aggressively to above-fold content, or if placeholder dimensions aren't set (causing CLS). Test your implementation with Chrome DevTools Lighthouse after adding lazy loading - the "Avoid lazy loading images that are in the initial viewport" check will flag any incorrectly lazy-loaded above-fold images.

Should I lazy load images below the fold?

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Should I Lazy Load Images Below the Fold?

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Use Cases

Page Type	Initial Load Reduction	LCP Impact
Collection pages (grid of 24 products)	50-70% reduction	High - many below-fold images
Product pages (multiple gallery images)	30-50% reduction	Medium - hero image loads eagerly
Homepage (editorial layout)	20-40% reduction	Medium
Blog posts with images	40-60% reduction	High - long-form content