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  1. Home
  2. Plugins
  3. Preload
  4. Preload Images
Preload Images icon

Preload Images

Similar to DNS prefetching, image preloading/prefetching with JavaScript to get faster page loading experience.

By Ravikumar Patel·Preload·Free
4.6(8 reviews)
·1.0K+ active installs·Updated 3 years ago
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As of April 2026, Preload Images is a WordPress preload plugin with 1.0K+ active installations and a 4.6/5 rating from 8 reviews. It has been downloaded 12K+ times in total. Requires WordPress 3.8+ and PHP false+. Available on WordPress.org since 2019. Last updated 3 years ago — may have compatibility concerns. Downloads are down 30% this week. Top alternative: Preloader.

4.6/58 reviews
1.0K+active installs
12K+total downloads
7 yearssince 2019

Overview

Preload images to get faster page loading experience. Preload Images plugin supports unlimited image urls, good for photo galleries and other image-heavy sites where you want to deliver the photos as seamlessly as possible.

Read full description on WordPress.org

Screenshots

Ratings & Reviews

4.68 reviews
5 ★
7
4 ★
0
3 ★
0
2 ★
1
1 ★
0

Recent Reviews

Perfect to improve animated GIF trigger on mobile
by photoMaldives·3 years ago

I wanted to trigger an animated GIF on hover. To implement this, I followed a simple online guide to *swap* an image on hover – set initial image as the first frame of your GIF, and the second image as the animated GIF itself.
This worked perfectly on desktop, but there was a small but very annoying flash on mobile (on touch).
Enter this plugin!
I enabled the plugin for pages (setting), then copy/pasted the URL of my GIFs in the ‘Image URLs’ field on my specific page … and voila! The flash is history!
Thanks to the plugin author – Ravikumar Patel (@ravipatel) – for such a simple and neat solution for my unique case.
5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
PS: it took me longer to write a Support question followed by this review, than it did to actually apply the fix! 🙂

Highly recommended!
by Joey·3 years ago

I run a photo gallery website for hobby using fancybox, and I’m happy to find this plugin! Initially I was searching for a solution with JavaScript, etc., but this is much easier way to preload images with relatively large file sizes. Thank you for the developers behind this!

Doesn’t work to preload site background image +
by wardencenter·4 years ago

Sadly, the plugin does not work to preload a site’s background image when that image is specified in common image urls.

Plus, when there is no image specified in the common image urls, the site loads as a blank page with what I can only describe as a spinning waiting icon. Once the spin is done the site does load smoothly with the background image. But, who wants clients seeing a site that loads with a spinning icon for 3 seconds?

Hopefully they’ll update so that the background image can be specified in the common image urls, because it does seem an easy to use plugin.

Does an excellent job
by Topher·4 years ago·1 reply

I found myself needing to pre-load some images and started to figure out how to do it by hand when I thought “If you have a need in WordPress, there’s probably a plugin for it.” So I went hunting and found this plugin.

Gutenberg made it a little hard to see the meta box on Pages at first, but I found it.

I REALLY like that you can preload per page/post, or have them global. Nicely done.

This plugin is awesome!
by rafaelbrasileirinho·4 years ago·1 reply

The plugin fix divi image loading error and glitches, and give for your website a speed boost helping in Google SEO.

Download Trends

Today: 2Yesterday: 3This week: 19Period total: 912

Compatibility

WordPress3.8+ requiredTested up to 6.1.10
PHPfalse+ required

Version Adoption

v1.2
100.0%

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Frequently Asked Questions

Changelog

1.2.1

  • Bug fixes
View full changelog on WordPress.org

Contributors

Ravikumar PatelRavikumar Patelwebbymonkswebbymonks
Plugin Info
Version
1.2.1
Last Updated
Feb 21, 2023
WP Requires
3.8+
Tested Up To
6.1.10
PHP Requires
false+
Active Installs
1.0K+
Downloads
12K+
Added
Jun 7, 2019
Business
Free

Tags

preloadprefetchhtml preloadimage preloadimage prefetch

Developer

R
Ravikumar Patel
1 plugins0.0M+ total installs
View all plugins →

Quick Compare

Preload Images vs Preloader→Preload Images vs Safelayout Cute Preloader – CSS3…→Preload Images vs WP Performance Score Booster – Optimize…→

Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Analysis and metrics by PluginSift.