diff --git a/modules/markup/html_node.go b/modules/markup/html_node.go
index f67437465c..4eb78fdd2b 100644
--- a/modules/markup/html_node.go
+++ b/modules/markup/html_node.go
@@ -63,8 +63,11 @@ func processNodeA(ctx *RenderContext, node *html.Node) {
 
 func visitNodeImg(ctx *RenderContext, img *html.Node) (next *html.Node) {
 	next = img.NextSibling
+	attrSrc, hasLazy := "", false
 	for i, imgAttr := range img.Attr {
+		hasLazy = hasLazy || imgAttr.Key == "loading" && imgAttr.Val == "lazy"
 		if imgAttr.Key != "src" {
+			attrSrc = imgAttr.Val
 			continue
 		}
 
@@ -72,8 +75,8 @@ func visitNodeImg(ctx *RenderContext, img *html.Node) (next *html.Node) {
 		isLinkable := imgSrcOrigin != "" && !strings.HasPrefix(imgSrcOrigin, "data:")
 
 		// By default, the "<img>" tag should also be clickable,
-		// because frontend use `<img>` to paste the re-scaled image into the markdown,
-		// so it must match the default markdown image behavior.
+		// because frontend uses `<img>` to paste the re-scaled image into the Markdown,
+		// so it must match the default Markdown image behavior.
 		cnt := 0
 		for p := img.Parent; isLinkable && p != nil && cnt < 2; p = p.Parent {
 			if hasParentAnchor := p.Type == html.ElementNode && p.Data == "a"; hasParentAnchor {
@@ -98,6 +101,9 @@ func visitNodeImg(ctx *RenderContext, img *html.Node) (next *html.Node) {
 		imgAttr.Val = camoHandleLink(imgAttr.Val)
 		img.Attr[i] = imgAttr
 	}
+	if !RenderBehaviorForTesting.DisableAdditionalAttributes && !hasLazy && !strings.HasPrefix(attrSrc, "data:") {
+		img.Attr = append(img.Attr, html.Attribute{Key: "loading", Val: "lazy"})
+	}
 	return next
 }
 
diff --git a/modules/markup/markdown/markdown_test.go b/modules/markup/markdown/markdown_test.go
index 76434ac8b3..4eb01bcc2d 100644
--- a/modules/markup/markdown/markdown_test.go
+++ b/modules/markup/markdown/markdown_test.go
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ func TestRender_StandardLinks(t *testing.T) {
 func TestRender_Images(t *testing.T) {
 	setting.AppURL = AppURL
 
-	test := func(input, expected string) {
+	render := func(input, expected string) {
 		buffer, err := markdown.RenderString(markup.NewTestRenderContext(FullURL), input)
 		assert.NoError(t, err)
 		assert.Equal(t, strings.TrimSpace(expected), strings.TrimSpace(string(buffer)))
@@ -59,27 +59,32 @@ func TestRender_Images(t *testing.T) {
 	result := util.URLJoin(FullURL, url)
 	// hint: With Markdown v2.5.2, there is a new syntax: [link](URL){:target="_blank"} , but we do not support it now
 
-	test(
+	render(
 		"!["+title+"]("+url+")",
 		`<p><a href="`+result+`" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><img src="`+result+`" alt="`+title+`"/></a></p>`)
 
-	test(
+	render(
 		"[["+title+"|"+url+"]]",
 		`<p><a href="`+result+`" rel="nofollow"><img src="`+result+`" title="`+title+`" alt="`+title+`"/></a></p>`)
-	test(
+	render(
 		"[!["+title+"]("+url+")]("+href+")",
 		`<p><a href="`+href+`" rel="nofollow"><img src="`+result+`" alt="`+title+`"/></a></p>`)
 
-	test(
+	render(
 		"!["+title+"]("+url+")",
 		`<p><a href="`+result+`" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><img src="`+result+`" alt="`+title+`"/></a></p>`)
 
-	test(
+	render(
 		"[["+title+"|"+url+"]]",
 		`<p><a href="`+result+`" rel="nofollow"><img src="`+result+`" title="`+title+`" alt="`+title+`"/></a></p>`)
-	test(
+	render(
 		"[!["+title+"]("+url+")]("+href+")",
 		`<p><a href="`+href+`" rel="nofollow"><img src="`+result+`" alt="`+title+`"/></a></p>`)
+
+	defer test.MockVariableValue(&markup.RenderBehaviorForTesting.DisableAdditionalAttributes, false)()
+	render(
+		"<a><img src='a.jpg'></a>", // by the way, empty "a" tag will be removed
+		`<p dir="auto"><img src="http://localhost:3000/user13/repo11/a.jpg" loading="lazy"/></p>`)
 }
 
 func TestTotal_RenderString(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/modules/markup/sanitizer_default.go b/modules/markup/sanitizer_default.go
index 14161eb533..9288be3b28 100644
--- a/modules/markup/sanitizer_default.go
+++ b/modules/markup/sanitizer_default.go
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ func (st *Sanitizer) createDefaultPolicy() *bluemonday.Policy {
 
 	policy.AllowAttrs("src", "autoplay", "controls").OnElements("video")
 
+	policy.AllowAttrs("loading").OnElements("img")
+
 	// Allow generally safe attributes (reference: https://github.com/jch/html-pipeline)
 	generalSafeAttrs := []string{
 		"abbr", "accept", "accept-charset",
diff --git a/services/mailer/mail_test.go b/services/mailer/mail_test.go
index 7a47cf3876..b15949f352 100644
--- a/services/mailer/mail_test.go
+++ b/services/mailer/mail_test.go
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ func TestEmbedBase64Images(t *testing.T) {
 		require.NoError(t, err)
 
 		mailBody := msgs[0].Body
-		assert.Regexp(t, `MSG-BEFORE <a[^>]+><img src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgo="/></a> MSG-AFTER`, mailBody)
+		assert.Regexp(t, `MSG-BEFORE <a[^>]+><img src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgo=".*/></a> MSG-AFTER`, mailBody)
 	})
 
 	t.Run("EmbedInstanceImageSkipExternalImage", func(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/templates/repo/issue/card.tmpl b/templates/repo/issue/card.tmpl
index 41fe6cea8f..9a8341dcca 100644
--- a/templates/repo/issue/card.tmpl
+++ b/templates/repo/issue/card.tmpl
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 		{{if $attachments}}
 		<div class="card-attachment-images">
 			{{range $attachments}}
-				<img src="{{.DownloadURL}}" alt="{{.Name}}" />
+				<img loading="lazy" src="{{.DownloadURL}}" alt="{{.Name}}" />
 			{{end}}
 		</div>
 		{{end}}
diff --git a/templates/repo/issue/view_content/attachments.tmpl b/templates/repo/issue/view_content/attachments.tmpl
index 2155f78656..e865050559 100644
--- a/templates/repo/issue/view_content/attachments.tmpl
+++ b/templates/repo/issue/view_content/attachments.tmpl
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 				{{if FilenameIsImage .Name}}
 					{{if not (StringUtils.Contains (StringUtils.ToString $.RenderedContent) .UUID)}}
 					<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="{{.DownloadURL}}">
-						<img alt="{{.Name}}" src="{{.DownloadURL}}" title="{{ctx.Locale.Tr "repo.issues.attachment.open_tab" .Name}}">
+						<img loading="lazy" alt="{{.Name}}" src="{{.DownloadURL}}" title="{{ctx.Locale.Tr "repo.issues.attachment.open_tab" .Name}}">
 					</a>
 					{{end}}
 				{{end}}
diff --git a/templates/repo/issue/view_content/comments.tmpl b/templates/repo/issue/view_content/comments.tmpl
index 8f49bcf07e..e02111fd8e 100644
--- a/templates/repo/issue/view_content/comments.tmpl
+++ b/templates/repo/issue/view_content/comments.tmpl
@@ -615,7 +615,7 @@
 			<div class="timeline-item-group">
 				<div class="timeline-item event" id="{{.HashTag}}">
 					<a class="timeline-avatar"{{if gt .Poster.ID 0}} href="{{.Poster.HomeLink}}"{{end}}>
-						<img alt src="{{.Poster.AvatarLink ctx}}" width="40" height="40">
+						<img loading="lazy" alt src="{{.Poster.AvatarLink ctx}}" width="40" height="40">
 					</a>
 					<span class="badge grey">{{svg "octicon-x" 16}}</span>
 					<span class="text grey muted-links">
diff --git a/templates/repo/settings/lfs_file.tmpl b/templates/repo/settings/lfs_file.tmpl
index 7698f77b2a..1a8014e218 100644
--- a/templates/repo/settings/lfs_file.tmpl
+++ b/templates/repo/settings/lfs_file.tmpl
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 					{{else if not .IsTextFile}}
 						<div class="view-raw">
 							{{if .IsImageFile}}
-								<img alt="{{$.RawFileLink}}" src="{{$.RawFileLink}}">
+								<img loading="lazy" alt="{{$.RawFileLink}}" src="{{$.RawFileLink}}">
 							{{else if .IsVideoFile}}
 								<video controls src="{{$.RawFileLink}}">
 									<strong>{{ctx.Locale.Tr "repo.video_not_supported_in_browser"}}</strong>
diff --git a/templates/shared/user/profile_big_avatar.tmpl b/templates/shared/user/profile_big_avatar.tmpl
index 91f04e0b53..1190dc54ec 100644
--- a/templates/shared/user/profile_big_avatar.tmpl
+++ b/templates/shared/user/profile_big_avatar.tmpl
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@
 				<ul class="user-badges">
 				{{range .Badges}}
 					<li>
-						<img width="64" height="64" src="{{.ImageURL}}" alt="{{.Description}}" data-tooltip-content="{{.Description}}">
+						<img loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" src="{{.ImageURL}}" alt="{{.Description}}" data-tooltip-content="{{.Description}}">
 					</li>
 				{{end}}
 				</ul>
diff --git a/templates/user/dashboard/feeds.tmpl b/templates/user/dashboard/feeds.tmpl
index 4ee12fa783..37dede7af6 100644
--- a/templates/user/dashboard/feeds.tmpl
+++ b/templates/user/dashboard/feeds.tmpl
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@
 						{{range $push.Commits}}
 							{{$commitLink := printf "%s/commit/%s" $repoLink .Sha1}}
 							<div class="flex-text-block">
-								<img alt class="ui avatar" src="{{$push.AvatarLink ctx .AuthorEmail}}" title="{{.AuthorName}}" width="16" height="16">
+								<img loading="lazy" alt class="ui avatar" src="{{$push.AvatarLink ctx .AuthorEmail}}" title="{{.AuthorName}}" width="16" height="16">
 								<a class="ui sha label" href="{{$commitLink}}">{{ShortSha .Sha1}}</a>
 								<span class="text truncate">
 									{{ctx.RenderUtils.RenderCommitMessage .Message $repo}}
diff --git a/web_src/js/components/RepoContributors.vue b/web_src/js/components/RepoContributors.vue
index 1006ea30bb..754acb997d 100644
--- a/web_src/js/components/RepoContributors.vue
+++ b/web_src/js/components/RepoContributors.vue
@@ -397,7 +397,7 @@ export default defineComponent({
         <div class="ui top attached header tw-flex tw-flex-1">
           <b class="ui right">#{{ index + 1 }}</b>
           <a :href="contributor.home_link">
-            <img class="ui avatar tw-align-middle" height="40" width="40" :src="contributor.avatar_link" alt="">
+            <img loading="lazy" class="ui avatar tw-align-middle" height="40" width="40" :src="contributor.avatar_link" alt="">
           </a>
           <div class="tw-ml-2">
             <a v-if="contributor.home_link !== ''" :href="contributor.home_link"><h4>{{ contributor.name }}</h4></a>