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PerformanceResourceTiming: initiatorType property

The initiatorType read-only property is a string representing web platform feature that initiated the resource load.

Note: This property does not represent the type of content fetched. A .css file can be fetched using a <link> element leading to an initiatorType of link. When loading images using background: url() in a CSS file, the initiatorType will be css and not img.

Value

The initiatorType property can have the following values, or other if none of the conditions match.

audio

If the request was initiated by an <audio> element's src attribute.

beacon

If the request was initiated by a navigator.sendBeacon() method.

body

If the request was initiated by a <body> element's background attribute.

css

If the request was initiated by a CSS url() function.

early-hint

If the request was initiated by an 103 Early Hint response.

embed

If the request was initiated by an <embed> element's src attribute.

fetch

If the request was initiated by a fetch() method.

frame

If the request was initiated by loading a <frame> element.

iframe

If the request was initiated by an <iframe> element's src attribute.

icon Non-standard

If the request was initiated by a favicon. Non-standard and only reported by Safari.

image

If the request was initiated by an <image> element.

img

If the request was initiated by an <img> element's src or srcset attribute.

input

If the request was initiated by an <input> element of type image.

If the request was initiated by a <link> element.

If the request was initiated by a navigation request.

object

If the request was initiated by an <object> element.

ping

If the request was initiated by an <a> element's ping.

script

If the request was initiated by a <script> element.

track

If the request was initiated by a <track> element's src.

video

If the request was initiated by a <video> element's poster or src.

xmlhttprequest

If the request was initiated by an XMLHttpRequest.

Examples

Filtering resources

The initiatorType property can be used to get specific resource timing entries only. For example, only those that were initiated by <script> elements.

Example using a PerformanceObserver, which notifies of new resource performance entries as they are recorded in the browser's performance timeline. Use the buffered option to access entries from before the observer creation.

js

const observer = new PerformanceObserver((list) => {
  const scripts = list.getEntries().filter((entry) => {
    return entry.initiatorType === "script";
  });
  console.log(scripts);
});

observer.observe({ type: "resource", buffered: true });

Example using Performance.getEntriesByType(), which only shows resource performance entries present in the browser's performance timeline at the time you call this method:

js

const scripts = performance.getEntriesByType("resource").filter((entry) => {
  return entry.initiatorType === "script";
});
console.log(scripts);

Specifications

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Explorer Opera Safari WebView Android Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet
initiatorType 43 12 31 10 30 11 43 43 31 30 11 4.0

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https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/PerformanceResourceTiming/initiatorType