Explain the concept of lazy loading and how it can improve performance

Lazy loading is a design pattern that delays the loading of resources until they are actually needed. This can significantly improve performance by reducing initial load times and conserving bandwidth. For example, images on a webpage can be lazy-loaded so that they only load when they come into the viewport. This can be achieved using the loading="lazy" attribute in HTML or by using JavaScript libraries.

<img src="image.jpg" loading="lazy" alt="Lazy loaded image" />