Definition
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) measures how long the largest image, video or text block in view takes to render; 2.5 seconds or less is good.
LCP explained
LCP reports the render time of the largest image, text block or video visible in the viewport, measured from when the user started navigating to the page. It is a proxy for when the main content has loaded. web.dev rates 2.5 seconds or less as good, 2.5 to 4 seconds as needing improvement and over 4 seconds as poor, at the 75th percentile of page loads.
The LCP element is often a hero image or headline. Common causes of slow LCP are:
- A slow server response (high Time to First Byte).
- Render-blocking CSS and JavaScript delaying the first paint.
- A large, uncompressed hero image, or one discovered late because it is set in CSS or loaded by JavaScript.
- Lazy-loading the hero image, which delays the very element that matters.
- Content hidden until scripts or animations run.
Fixes include preloading and prioritizing the LCP image, serving it in a modern format at the right size, rendering main content on the server, and caching pages at a CDN.
Example
Your homepage's LCP element is a headline that starts invisible and fades in with an animation after scripts load, so LCP is far above 2.5 seconds on mobile. Rendering the headline visible in the initial HTML, and animating something else, brings LCP down sharply.
Why it matters
LCP is the moment visitors see that a page is useful. A slow LCP increases the chance they give up before the page has loaded.
Related service
Page Speed Optimization
We fix LCP, INP and CLS issues so pages load fast and respond quickly for real users.
Page speed and Core Web Vitals optimizationSources
- web.dev: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) (updated 4 Sep 2025)
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Related terms
- Core Web VitalsCore Web Vitals are three Google metrics for real-user experience: loading (LCP), responsiveness (INP) and visual stability (CLS).
- TTFB (Time to First Byte)TTFB (Time to First Byte) is the time from requesting a page to receiving the first byte of the response; web.dev suggests 0.8 seconds or less.
- Render-blocking resourcesRender-blocking resources are CSS and JavaScript files the browser must download and process before it can show anything on the page.
- Lazy loadingLazy loading delays loading images, videos or other content until a visitor scrolls near them, so the initial page loads faster.
- CDN (Content Delivery Network)A CDN (content delivery network) is a network of servers in many locations that delivers your site's files from the one nearest each visitor.