Open any WordPress site and view source. You will find a block of inline JavaScript and a CSS file dedicated to emoji detection. On every page. For every visitor. Whether you use emojis or not.
Why it exists
WordPress added emoji support scripts in version 4.2 (2015) to ensure emojis rendered correctly on older browsers like IE 10 and Android 4.3. The script detects whether the browser can render emojis natively and loads a polyfill if not.
Why you do not need it anymore
It is 2026. Every browser shipped in the last eight years renders emojis natively. The script exists for browsers that no longer exist. On a modern business or agency site, it is dead weight: approximately 10KB of JavaScript and one HTTP request on every single page load, serving zero visitors.
What you gain by removing it
One fewer HTTP request per page. 10KB less JavaScript parsed on every load. It is small individually, but it compounds across features. Remove emojis, remove RSD links, remove WLW manifests, remove shortlink tags, remove adjacent post links — suddenly you have saved 6–8 HTTP requests and 50–100KB per page.
OvKit handles all of this in one toggle. The free version includes emoji removal plus seven other performance features. Install, scan, toggle, done.