To stop headless Chrome from downloading images in Puppeteer, enable request interception before navigating and abort requests whose resource type is image. Continue every other request. Headless mode itself does not disable images; filtering is a separate network policy.
Block only image requests in Puppeteer
Install and use Puppeteer in your project, then add the interception handler before calling page.goto(). The handler below aborts image requests and allows other resource types to proceed:
await page.setRequestInterception(true);
page.on('request', request => {
if (request.resourceType() === 'image') {
return request.abort();
}
return request.continue();
});
await page.goto(url);This follows Chrome’s documented interception pattern, adapted to target images specifically. Check the documentation for the Puppeteer version installed in your project before relying on version-specific behavior: Puppeteer documentation.
Complete runnable example
Save this as no-images.js in a project where Puppeteer is installed. Pass the page URL as the first command-line argument:
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const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');
async function main() {
const url = process.argv[2];
if (!url) {
throw new Error('Usage: node no-images.js https://example.com');
}
const browser = await puppeteer.launch({ headless: true });
try {
const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.setRequestInterception(true);
page.on('request', request => {
if (request.resourceType() === 'image') {
return request.abort();
}
return request.continue();
});
await page.goto(url, { waitUntil: 'networkidle2' });
console.log('Page loaded without image requests:', page.url());
} finally {
await browser.close();
}
}
main().catch(error => {
console.error(error);
process.exitCode = 1;
});Run it with node no-images.js https://example.com. The interception listener must be registered before navigation so it can handle the page’s initial requests. networkidle2 is an example navigation condition, not a requirement; choose a condition suitable for the page and task.
Choose how broadly to filter requests
| Approach | What continues | Effect | When it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image-only filter | Every request except those identified as images | Prevents image requests while leaving stylesheets, fonts, scripts, and other resource types available | When the goal is specifically to avoid image downloads |
| Resource allowlist | Only the types you name | Can block more work, but also blocks unlisted types such as stylesheets, fonts, and media | When a rendering task deliberately needs only a limited set of resource types |
Chrome’s server-side-rendering example uses an allowlist of document, script, xhr, and fetch. That is not an image-only setting: it also prevents other types, including stylesheets, fonts, and media, from loading. Use the narrow image predicate unless you have tested that the page works without the other resources. Chrome’s interception example and discussion.
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What Headless mode does—and does not do
Headless describes running Chrome without a visible user interface; it does not mean that the browser automatically omits images. Chrome’s current unified Headless mode uses the same browser code as regular Chrome, so image suppression belongs in your automation’s request policy, not in a Headless-mode switch. Chrome Headless mode documentation.
Chrome 112 introduced unified Headless. Starting with Chrome 132.0.6793.0, the older Headless implementation is available as a separate chrome-headless-shell binary. Those are version markers for Headless implementations, not image-blocking features.
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What changes when images are blocked
- Images requested as image resources are aborted; the page may show empty image areas or broken-image placeholders.
- Other resources continue under the image-only handler. Page appearance and behavior may still change if the site relies on images for layout, visual content, or interactions.
- Blocking images can reduce transferred data and browser workload, and may help prerendering on larger pages. The cited Chrome material gives no measured speedup or bandwidth reduction, so results depend on the page and environment.
Troubleshooting
Images still appear
- Confirm that interception is enabled and the listener is attached before the first navigation.
- Check that the handler calls
request.abort()for image requests andrequest.continue()for the rest. - If your page uses a frame or a later navigation, make sure the interception policy remains active for the requests you intend to filter.
The page looks broken or behaves differently
Blocking images can affect layout or remove meaningful content. If other page elements are also missing, verify that the handler continues non-image requests. Avoid replacing the narrow image check with an allowlist unless you intentionally want to block stylesheets, fonts, media, or other types too.
Navigation waits longer than expected
Sites may keep network activity open, so a network-idle navigation condition may not be suitable for every page. Choose a navigation condition that matches your task; do not treat waiting for network idle as necessary to block images.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does this Puppeteer handler stop CSS background images too?
It aborts requests Puppeteer identifies as resource type image. The cited material does not specify how every browser implementation classifies CSS background-image requests; verify the behavior for your Puppeteer and Chrome versions if that distinction matters.
Will blocking images guarantee faster screenshots?
No. It can reduce workload and bandwidth, but the size of any benefit depends on the page and environment; the cited Chrome article does not provide a quantified benchmark.
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