LazyLoad Plugin – Lazy Load Images, Videos, and Iframes
The best free lazy load plugin for WordPress. Lazy load images, videos, and iframes to improve performance and Core Web Vitals scores.
Use with caution
LazyLoad Plugin works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 100K+ sites, is rated 4.2/5 and was last updated 11 months ago, and scores 60/100 on our health check.
- Proven at scale on 100K+ active sites
- Only tested up to WordPress 6.8 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & supportDaily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where LazyLoad Plugin stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| defer offscreen images | #3 |
| lazy load | #10 |
| lazy load images | #4 |
| lazy load plugin | #5 |
| Lazy Loading | #19 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 from 139 reviews
About LazyLoad Plugin
From the official readme · v2.4.0Description
LazyLoad is the best free lazy load plugin for WordPress to lazy load images, videos, and iframes on WordPress. In a nutshell, LazyLoad displays images, videos, and iframes on a page only when they are visible to the user – that’s one crucial way to speed up your WordPress site and optimize images for Google PageSpeed.
You can lazy load images in post content or widget text, plus thumbnails, avatars, and smilies. LazyLoad takes care of iframe lazy load, too: you’ll easily replace Youtube iframes with a preview thumbnail to further speed up the loading time of your website.
No JavaScript library such as jQuery is used, and the script weight is less than 10KB.
Why is lazy loading crucial for performance?
Lazy loading is a key performance technique to make your site faster. You’ll reduce loading time, improve your Lighthouse performance score and optimize your Core Web Vitals grades.
Lazy loading your images on WordPress will help you achieve a better PageSpeed Insights score for three main reasons:
- You’ll address a specific PageSpeed Insights recommendation: [Defer offscreen images](https://wp-rocket.me/google-core-web-vitals-wordpress/defer-offscreen-images/, which means image lazy loading.
- You’ll improve the performance of two key metrics: First Input Delay (Core Web Vital) and Total Blocking Time (Lighthouse metric).
- You’ll make fewer HTTP requests – that is another way to boost your site speed and improve the Largest Contentful Paint score (another Core Web Vital).
Take a look at our complete list of reasons why you should use lazy loading. Then, turn on LazyLoad and make your WordPress website faster!
Dependencies
LazyLoad script: https://github.com/verlok/lazyload
Installation
- Upload the complete
rocket-lazy-loadfolder to the/wp-content/plugins/directory - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
Frequently asked questions
How can I use native lazyload?
To use native lazyload on browsers supporting this feature, you need to use the following line: add_filter( 'rocket_use_native_lazyload', '__return_true' ); Browsers that do not support native lazyload will use the JS-based solution as before.
How can I deactivate Lazy Load on some pages?
You can use the do_rocket_lazyload filter. Here is an example to put in functions.php files that disable lazyload on posts: add_action( 'wp', 'deactivate_rocket_lazyload_on_single' ); function deactivate_rocket_lazyload_on_single() { if ( is_single() ) { add_filter( 'do_rocket_lazyload', '__return_false' ); } }
How can I deactivate Lazy Load on some images?
Simply add a data-no-lazy="1" property in you img or iframe tag. You can also use the filters rocket_lazyload_excluded_attributes or rocket_lazyload_excluded_src to exclude specific patterns. For iframes, the filter is rocket_lazyload_iframe_excluded_patterns.
How can I change the threshold to trigger the load?
You can use the rocket_lazyload_threshold filter. Code sample: function rocket_lazyload_custom_threshold( $threshold ) { return 100; } add_filter( 'rocket_lazyload_threshold', 'rocket_lazyload_custom_threshold' );
I use plugin X and my images don’t show anymore
Some plugins are not compatible without lazy loading. Please open a support thread, and we will see how we can solve the issue by excluding lazy loading for this plugin.
How can I lazy load a background-image?
The plugin will automatically lazy load background-images set with a style attribute to a div element: You can also apply it manually. The element you want to apply lazy load on must have this specific markup: The element must have the class rocket-lazyload, and a data-bg attribute, which value is the CSS url for the image.
Where do I report security bugs found in this plugin?
You can report any security bugs found in the source code of the site-reviews plugin through the Patchstack Vulnerability Disclosure Program. The Patchstack team will assist you with verification, CVE assignment and take care of notifying the developers of this plugin.
Related Plugins
Imagify: The Best image optimizer to speed up your website with lighter images. WP Rocket: Best performance plugin to speed up your WordPress website. Heartbeat Control by WP Rocket: Heartbeat Control by WP Rocket: The best plugin to control the WordPress Heartbeat API and reduce CPU usage. RocketCDN: The best CDN plugin for WordPress to propel your content at the speed of light – no matter where your users are located in the world. Increase Max upload file size is the best plugin to increase the upload file size limit to any value with one click.
Changelog
2.4.0
Security: Fix an authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability reported by Pathstack.
2.3.9
Updated version to fix a mismatch between the tag of the release on Github and the release version which leads to a deployment issue that.
2.3.8
Enhancement: Launchpad compatibility (see https://github.com/wp-launchpad)
Enhancement: Raised compatibility with PHP > 7.3
Bug: Removed wp-media/rocket-lazyload-common from vendors
Enhancement: Raised wp-media/rocket-lazyload-common to 3.0
2.3.7
Bugfix: Removed rocket_lazyload_polyfill filter due to a vulnerability on polyfill
2.3.5
Enhancement: Test the plugin with latest version of WordPress v5.9.3
Enhancement: Change WP readme content.
2.3.4
Enhancement: Allow <a> tags to lazyload background images
Enhancement: Add tag to lazyloaded picture elements
Bugfix: Prevent a Fatal error related to the League Container package conflict with WooCommerce 4.4
Bugfix: Update lazyload for background images support for new version of lazyload script
Bugfix: Correctly apply the rocket-lazyload class on elements with a background-image and an empty class value
Bugfix: Correctly apply the rocket-lazyloadclass on elements with malformed HTML
Bugfix: Prevent a display issue with background-images when using different types of quotes around the URL
Bugfix: Prevent Layout from breaking when alt attribute has any html encoded characters
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best LazyLoad Plugin alternatives
All defer offscreen images plugins →| Rank | Plugin | Active installs |
|---|---|---|
| 2 |
Speed Up – Lazy Load
Improves load speed of page and save the bandwidth.
|
400+ |
FAQ
LazyLoad Plugin: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 26, 2026
Is LazyLoad Plugin free?
Yes. LazyLoad Plugin is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is LazyLoad Plugin safe to use in 2026?
LazyLoad Plugin works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 100K+ sites, is rated 4.2/5 and was last updated 11 months ago, and scores 60/100 on our health check.
How many websites use LazyLoad Plugin?
LazyLoad Plugin is active on 100K+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 1,794,094 times since it launched in January 2014. It was downloaded 23,446 times in the last 30 days.
Does LazyLoad Plugin work with WordPress 7.1?
LazyLoad Plugin is officially tested up to WordPress 6.8.10, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does LazyLoad Plugin need?
LazyLoad Plugin requires PHP 7.3 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was LazyLoad Plugin last updated?
The latest version, 2.4.0, was released on October 17, 2025 (11 months ago).
Who makes LazyLoad Plugin?
LazyLoad Plugin is developed and maintained by WP Media.
What are the best alternatives to LazyLoad Plugin?
The most popular alternatives to LazyLoad Plugin are Speed Up – Lazy Load (400+ installs).
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