What is react-lazyload?
The react-lazyload package is a React component that provides lazy loading functionality for images and other components. It helps improve performance by deferring the loading of offscreen elements until they are about to enter the viewport.
What are react-lazyload's main functionalities?
Basic Lazy Loading
This feature allows you to lazy load an image. The image will only load when it is about to enter the viewport, improving performance by not loading offscreen images.
import React from 'react';
import LazyLoad from 'react-lazyload';
const App = () => (
<div>
<LazyLoad height={200} offset={100}>
<img src="path/to/image.jpg" alt="Lazy Loaded Image" />
</LazyLoad>
</div>
);
export default App;
Placeholder
This feature allows you to display a placeholder image while the actual image is being lazy loaded. This can improve user experience by showing a temporary image until the main image is loaded.
import React from 'react';
import LazyLoad from 'react-lazyload';
const App = () => (
<div>
<LazyLoad height={200} placeholder={<img src="path/to/placeholder.jpg" alt="Placeholder" />}>
<img src="path/to/image.jpg" alt="Lazy Loaded Image" />
</LazyLoad>
</div>
);
export default App;
Debounce and Throttle
This feature allows you to control the rate at which the lazy loading function is called. Debounce delays the function call until after a specified delay, while throttle ensures the function is called at most once in a specified time period.
import React from 'react';
import LazyLoad from 'react-lazyload';
const App = () => (
<div>
<LazyLoad height={200} debounce={300}>
<img src="path/to/image.jpg" alt="Lazy Loaded Image" />
</LazyLoad>
<LazyLoad height={200} throttle={200}>
<img src="path/to/image2.jpg" alt="Lazy Loaded Image" />
</LazyLoad>
</div>
);
export default App;
Other packages similar to react-lazyload
react-intersection-observer
react-intersection-observer is a React implementation of the Intersection Observer API. It provides a way to observe changes in the intersection of a target element with an ancestor element or with a top-level document's viewport. It is more flexible and can be used for a variety of use cases beyond lazy loading.
react-lazy-load
react-lazy-load is another React component for lazy loading content. It is simple to use and provides basic lazy loading functionality. It is less feature-rich compared to react-lazyload but can be a good choice for simpler use cases.
Note
This project is now currently maintained by
@ameerthehacker, please reach out to him on any issues or help.
react-lazyload

Lazyload your Components, Images or anything matters the performance.
Demo
Why it's better
- Take performance in mind, only 2 event listeners for all lazy-loaded components
- Support both
one-time lazy load
and continuous lazy load
mode
scroll
/ resize
event handler is throttled so you won't suffer frequent update, you can switch to debounce mode too
- Decorator supported
- Server Side Rendering friendly
- Thoroughly tested
Installation
2.0.0 is finally out, read Upgrade Guide, it's almost painless to upgrade!
$ npm install --save react-lazyload
Usage
import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import LazyLoad from 'react-lazyload';
import MyComponent from './MyComponent';
const App = () => {
return (
<div className="list">
<LazyLoad height={200}>
<img src="tiger.jpg" /> /*
Lazy loading images is supported out of box,
no extra config needed, set `height` for better
experience
*/
</LazyLoad>
<LazyLoad height={200} once >
/* Once this component is loaded, LazyLoad will
not care about it anymore, set this to `true`
if you're concerned about improving performance */
<MyComponent />
</LazyLoad>
<LazyLoad height={200} offset={100}>
/* This component will be loaded when it's top
edge is 100px from viewport. It's useful to
make user ignorant about lazy load effect. */
<MyComponent />
</LazyLoad>
<LazyLoad>
<MyComponent />
</LazyLoad>
</div>
);
};
ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.body);
If you want to have your component lazyloaded by default, try this handy decorator:
import { lazyload } from 'react-lazyload';
@lazyload({
height: 200,
once: true,
offset: 100
})
class MyComponent extends React.Component {
render() {
return <div>this component is lazyloaded by default!</div>;
}
}
Special Tips
You should be aware that your component will only be mounted when it's visible in viewport, before that a placeholder will be rendered.
So you can safely send request in your component's componentDidMount
without worrying about performance loss or add some pretty entering effects, see this demo for more detail.
Props
children
Type: Node Default: undefined
NOTICE
Only one child is allowed to be passed.
scrollContainer
Type: String/DOM node Default: undefined
Pass a query selector string or DOM node. LazyLoad will attach to the window object's scroll events if no container is passed.
height
Type: Number/String Default: undefined
In the first round of render, LazyLoad will render a placeholder for your component if no placeholder is provided and measure if this component is visible. Set height
properly will make LazyLoad calculate more precisely. The value can be number or string like '100%'
. You can also use css to set the height of the placeholder instead of using height
.
once
Type: Bool Default: false
Once the lazy loaded component is loaded, do not detect scroll/resize event anymore. Useful for images or simple components.
offset
Type: Number/Array(Number) Default: 0
Say if you want to preload a component even if it's 100px below the viewport (user have to scroll 100px more to see this component), you can set offset
props to 100
. On the other hand, if you want to delay loading a component even if it's top edge has already appeared at viewport, set offset
to negative number.
Library supports horizontal lazy load out of the box. So when you provide this prop with number like 100
it will automatically set left edge offset to 100
and top edge to 100
;
If you provide this prop with array like [100, 200]
, it will set left edge offset to 100
and top offset to 200
.
scroll
Type: Bool Default: true
Listen and react to scroll event.
resize
Type: Bool Default: false
Respond to resize
event, set it to true
if you do need LazyLoad listen resize event.
NOTICE If you tend to support legacy IE, set this props carefully, refer to this question for further reading.
overflow
Type: Bool Default: false
If lazy loading components inside a overflow container, set this to true
. Also make sure a position
property other than static
has been set to your overflow container.
demo
placeholder
Type: Any Default: undefined
Specify a placeholder for your lazy loaded component.
demo
If you provide your own placeholder, do remember add appropriate height
or minHeight
to your placeholder element for better lazyload performance.
unmountIfInvisible
Type: Bool Default: false
The lazy loaded component is unmounted and replaced by the placeholder when it is no longer visible in the viewport.
debounce/throttle
Type: Bool / Number Default: undefined
Lazyload will try to use passive event by default to improve scroll/resize event handler's performance. If you prefer control this behaviour by yourself, you can set debounce
or throttle
to enable built in delay feature.
If you provide a number, that will be how many ms
to wait; if you provide true
, the wait time defaults to 300ms
.
NOTICE Set debounce
/ throttle
to all lazy loaded components unanimously, if you don't, the first occurrence is respected.
demo
wheel
DEPRECATED NOTICE
This props is not supported anymore, try set overflow
for lazy loading in overflow containers.
Utility
forceCheck
It is available to manually trigger checking for elements in viewport. Helpful when LazyLoad components enter the viewport without resize or scroll events, e.g. when the components' container was hidden then become visible.
Import forceCheck
:
import { forceCheck } from 'react-lazyload';
Then call the function:
forceCheck();
Scripts
$ npm run demo:watch
$ npm run build
Who should use it
Let's say there is a fixed
date picker on the page, when user picks a different date, all components displaying data should send ajax requests with new date parameter to retreive updated data, even many of them aren't visible in viewport. This makes server load furious when there are too many requests in one time.
Using LazyLoad
component will help ease this situation by only updating components visible in viewport.
Contributors
License
MIT