We are launching two complementary changes for image loading optimizations:
Starting around Chrome 118, we are launching the change to 100% of Chrome sessions.
When we have an image load task and a rendering task to choose from, we choose the image load task first to prevent layout shift of an intermediate frame that doesn't have the image. For the same reason, LCP improves because we skip the intermediate frame.
As we are increasing the priority of the first 5 images and image loading tasks, sites with images might see better CLS and LCP scores.
Both changes were rolled out to 100% of Chrome users around October 1, 2023 which roughly corresponds with the release of Chrome 118.
