Smart LazyLoad – Lazy Load Images, Videos and Iframes vs Lightbox with PhotoSwipe

Smart LazyLoad is a fast, lightweight, and SEO-friendly lazy loading plugin for WordPress. It improves page speed and Core Web Vitals by loading images, iframes, videos, and background images only when they are about to enter the viewport. Built with pure JavaScript, Smart Lazy Load does not rely on jQuery or other third-party libraries, keeping your site fast and bloat-free. Unlike heavy optimization plugins, Smart LazyLoad focuses on one thing only: reducing unnecessary resource loading while maintaining compatibility, accessibility, and SEO best practices. All features are optional — you can use the plugin with default settings or fine-tune it as needed. Features Lazy load images in posts, pages, widgets, thumbnails, avatars, and comments Lazy load iframes and embedded videos Lazy load background images from inline styles and data attributes Optional YouTube iframe replacement with video thumbnails Intelligent first-image skipping for better LCP scores Supports both JavaScript-based and native browser lazy loading Inline plugin CSS and JavaScript (optional) Option to disable lazy loading for logged-in users Fully responsive and mobile-friendly SEO-friendly with noscript fallbacks Accessibility-aware Pure JavaScript (no jQuery dependency) Lightweight and performance-focused Open source and available on GitHub Configuration You can configure the plugin from: Settings → LazyLoad Available options include: Enable or disable lazy loading Lazy load images, iframes, and videos Enable background image lazy loading Replace YouTube videos with thumbnails Adjust lazy load threshold Enable native browser lazy loading Inline plugin CSS and JavaScript Disable lazy loading for logged-in users Need more help? For detailed documentation, usage examples, available filters, and advanced configuration options for Smart LazyLoad are available. See the Lazy Load Configuration Guide Support We are here to help. Feel free to open a new thread on the Support Forum.

This plugin integrates PhotoSwipe to WordPress. All linked images in a post or page will be displayed using PhotoSwipe, regardless if they are part of a gallery or single images. More about the original version of PhotoSwipe see here: http://photoswipe.com You can also display EXIF data from supported image types. As of version 4.0.0 this plugin requires at least WordPress 5.3 and PHP 7.0. Older PHP version will cause problems. In this case you have to upgrade your PHP version or ask your hoster to do so. Please note that WordPress itself also recommends at least PHP 7.4 – see https://wordpress.org/about/requirements/. Please keep in mind: not the visible thumbnail is relevant, but only the image link. Images should always be linked to the file and not to the attachment page. Since version 5.6.1 there is an option to fix attachment links which can be enabled if needed – however this may slow down your website since then all links on a page will be checked if they are attachment links.