Lochte left all his competitors far behind, touching in 1 minute, 50.08 seconds to improve on the previous mark set by South Africa's Darian Townsend by an astounding 1.5 seconds.
Lochte finished more than two body lengths ahead of his closest competitor, Markus Rogan of Austria, who was 2.82 seconds behind. Another American, Tyler Clary, was third, 3.48 back.
Lochte's two marks represent the only individual world records set in 2010 - either in short- or long-course - after high-tech bodysuits were banned at the beginning of the year. By contrast, nearly every record in swimming was broken multiple times the previous two years.
Two other world records in relays were set the past two days.
Also Friday, Olympic champion Cesar Cielo showed a return to form with a dominant display in the 50 freestyle.
Cielo clocked 20.51 seconds in the two-lap race, 0.30 ahead of French rival Frederick Bousquet, with Josh Schneider of the United States third, 0.37 behind.
After winning the 50 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Cielo then swept both sprints - the 50 and 100 - at the 2009 long-course worlds in Rome. But he failed to win over both distances at the Pan Pacific championships in August, where American sprinter Nathan Adrian prevailed.
Adrian failed to reach the final in the 50, and Cielo now enters as an even bigger favorite for the 100 on Sunday.
In the women's 100 free, Dutch sprinters Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Femke Heemskerk finished 1-2, relegating American standout Natalie Coughlin to third.
Kromowidjojo clocked a championship-record 51.45, Heemskerk finished 0.73 behind and Coughlin was 0.80 back.
Kromowidjojo and Heemskerk also finished 1-2 in the 100 free at the European short-course championships three weeks ago. Both were also part of the Dutch squad that took gold in the 400 freestyle relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and last year's long-course worlds in Rome.
“Kromowidjojo was in a class of her own,” Heemskerk said. “She did great and I am the best of the rest.” Paul Biedermann of Germany won the 400 free in 3:37.06 - more than four seconds off his world record last year in a bodysuit. Nikita Lobintsev of Russia took silver, 0.78 behind, and Olympic 1,500 champion Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia was third, 1.11 back.
Also, Naoya Tomita of Japan won ahead of world record-holder Daniel Gyurta of Hungary in the men's 200 breaststroke.
Other women's winners included Alexianne Castel of France in the 200 backstroke and Swedish veteran Therese Alshammar in the 50 butterfly.
