diff --git a/wp-includes/media.php b/wp-includes/media.php
index 11815e65fa..f8b0f9c1b1 100644
--- a/wp-includes/media.php
+++ b/wp-includes/media.php
@@ -5662,7 +5662,7 @@ function wp_get_loading_optimization_attributes( $tag_name, $attr, $context ) {
 	}
 
 	// Special handling for programmatically created image tags.
-	if ( 'the_post_thumbnail' === $context || 'wp_get_attachment_image' === $context ) {
+	if ( 'the_post_thumbnail' === $context || 'wp_get_attachment_image' === $context || 'widget_media_image' === $context ) {
 		/*
 		 * Skip programmatically created images within post content as they need to be handled together with the other
 		 * images within the post content.
diff --git a/wp-includes/version.php b/wp-includes/version.php
index 95fbecadb5..6aa9e9a16e 100644
--- a/wp-includes/version.php
+++ b/wp-includes/version.php
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
  *
  * @global string $wp_version
  */
-$wp_version = '6.3-beta3-56153';
+$wp_version = '6.3-beta3-56154';
 
 /**
  * Holds the WordPress DB revision, increments when changes are made to the WordPress DB schema.
diff --git a/wp-includes/widgets/class-wp-widget-media-image.php b/wp-includes/widgets/class-wp-widget-media-image.php
index 77df8050d8..31a8bef16f 100644
--- a/wp-includes/widgets/class-wp-widget-media-image.php
+++ b/wp-includes/widgets/class-wp-widget-media-image.php
@@ -239,14 +239,31 @@ class WP_Widget_Media_Image extends WP_Widget_Media {
 				$instance['height'] = '';
 			}
 
-			$image = sprintf(
-				'<img class="%1$s" src="%2$s" alt="%3$s" width="%4$s" height="%5$s" />',
-				esc_attr( $classes ),
-				esc_url( $instance['url'] ),
-				esc_attr( $instance['alt'] ),
-				esc_attr( $instance['width'] ),
-				esc_attr( $instance['height'] )
+			$attr = array(
+				'class'    => $classes,
+				'src'      => $instance['url'],
+				'alt'      => $instance['alt'],
+				'width'    => $instance['width'],
+				'height'   => $instance['height'],
+				'decoding' => 'async',
 			);
+
+			$loading_optimization_attr = wp_get_loading_optimization_attributes(
+				'img',
+				$attr,
+				'widget_media_image'
+			);
+
+			$attr = array_merge( $attr, $loading_optimization_attr );
+
+			$attr  = array_map( 'esc_attr', $attr );
+			$image = '<img';
+
+			foreach ( $attr as $name => $value ) {
+				$image .= ' ' . $name . '="' . $value . '"';
+			}
+
+			$image .= ' />';
 		} // End if().
 
 		$url = '';