The easiest performance win in React isn't always your JavaScript. Sometimes it's your images. I used to think performance optimization meant splitting bundles, memoizing components, and chasing Lighthouse scores. Then I opened Chrome DevTools on one of my own React projects. The result? Images were quietly eating most of the page weight — way more than my JS bundle, my fonts, everything else combined. A hero banner that looked perfect on my laptop was making mobile users download a ...