Bundling refers to the practice of combining multiple CSS or JavaScript files into a single file to optimize load time and performance. Instead of making multiple network requests for individual files, the browser makes one request, reducing latency and bandwidth usage.
The files are “bundled” together through a build process, often during a site's deployment pipeline. Tools like Webpack analyze dependencies between files and bundle them in a way that avoids errors that result from ordering issues.
The bundled file is typically minified as well to reduce its size through removing whitespace, comments and unneeded code.
Bundling leads to simpler deployment and caching benefits for static assets. It's considered a best practice for website performance and has been adopted widely as sites grow more complex with many GUI dependencies.