How to optimize a large list rendering in Vue with virtual scrolling?
Jul 22, 2025 am 02:05 AMVirtual scrolling in Vue optimizes large list rendering by displaying only visible items. 1. It reduces memory usage and re-rendering costs by rendering only a subset of items. 2. Use vue-virtual-scroller library by installing, registering, and configuring it with item size, height, and unique key. 3. Keep item heights consistent, avoid heavy computations, use item-key wisely, and simplify DOM structure for best performance. 4. Avoid virtual scrolling for small lists or when features like drag-and-drop are required.
When you’re dealing with a large list in Vue — say, hundreds or thousands of items — rendering them all at once can bring your app to a crawl. The solution? Virtual scrolling. It only renders the items that are actually visible on the screen (plus a few buffers), which drastically reduces DOM nodes and boosts performance.

Here’s how to pull it off effectively.
What is virtual scrolling and why it matters
Virtual scrolling (or windowing) only renders a small subset of a long list based on what’s currently visible in the viewport. Instead of rendering all 1000 list items, you might only render 10–20 at a time.

This approach:
- Reduces memory usage
- Lowers re-rendering cost
- Keeps your app responsive even with huge datasets
Without virtual scrolling, large lists can cause janky scrolling, slow initial load times, and high memory usage — especially on mobile devices.

How to implement virtual scrolling in Vue
Vue doesn’t have built-in virtual scroll support, but there are well-maintained libraries that make it easy. One of the most popular is vue-virtual-scroller.
Here’s a quick setup:
-
Install the package
npm install vue-virtual-scroller
Register it in your app
import { createApp } from 'vue' import { VirtualScroller } from 'vue-virtual-scroller' import App from './App.vue' const app = createApp(App) app.component('VirtualScroller', VirtualScroller) app.mount('#app')
Use it in your component
<template> <VirtualScroller :items="bigList" :item-size="32" height="500px" item-key="id" > <template #default="{ item }"> <div class="list-item">{{ item.name }}</div> </template> </VirtualScroller> </template>
Make sure each item has a consistent height and a unique item-key
. This helps the virtual scroller calculate scroll position and render the right items quickly.
Performance tips when using virtual scrolling
Even with virtual scrolling, there are a few things you should watch out for to avoid performance hiccups.
Keep item height consistent
The virtual scroller works best when all items have the same height. If they vary, it can cause layout shifts and inaccurate scroll calculations.Avoid heavy computations inside the rendered items
Since items are re-used as you scroll, any expensive logic inside the#default
slot can cause lag. Move heavy logic outside or memoize where possible.Use track-by / item-key wisely
This helps Vue identify which items have changed, added, or removed. Without it, Vue might unnecessarily re-render items.Limit DOM complexity inside each item
Even though only a few items are rendered, each one can still be heavy if it has a lot of nested elements or images. Keep the template inside the#default
slot as simple as possible.
When not to use virtual scrolling
It’s not always the right tool for the job. If your list is small (say, under 100 items), or if users need to see all items at once, virtual scrolling might complicate things more than it helps.
Also, features like drag-and-drop, selection across long lists, or full-text search might be harder to implement with virtualization. In those cases, consider pagination or infinite scroll instead.
That’s the core of optimizing large list rendering in Vue with virtual scrolling. It's not magic, but it makes a world of difference when dealing with large datasets.
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