Chrome 155 Adds JPEG XL Decoding Support
Google has released Chrome 155 with decoding support for JPEG XL, a format it says compresses images 30 to 50 percent better than JPEG and also handles lossless compression, HDR, animation and progressive decoding.
In that post, Google set out where it believes the format will be most useful. "We expect that JPEG XL is most helpful for high-fidelity or lossless compression, especially of photographic images or in cases in which fine-grained progressive decoding is preferred," the company wrote.
Google said it used Rust in the implementation to put memory safety first, and that it carried out extensive performance work to make decoding fast. The blog post also promised to explain why the company brought JPEG XL to Chrome, how the Rust work was done, and what the project revealed about developer feedback and the web standards ecosystem.
With the format now shipping in the browser, Google urged developers, content creators and platform owners to begin using .jxl images and animations in their pipelines. "Try it out, file bugs, and help us continue building a faster and safer web for everyone," the post said.
Chrome 155 is the first version of the browser to decode the format, and the call for bug reports indicates Google expects further refinement as sites and tools adopt it.