Shipping JPEG XL in Chrome

Chrome is shipping decoding support for the JPEG XL (.jxl) image format in Chrome 155. JPEG XL offers 30-50% better compression than JPEG, lossless compression, built-in HDR, lossless JPEG transcoding, and fine-grained progressive decoding. Chrome recommends trying both AVIF and JPEG XL, with JPEG XL especially suited to high-fidelity or lossless photographic images and scenarios that benefit from progressive decode. The decision responded to consistent web-developer demand and participation in the Interop 2026 JPEG XL Investigation to ensure cross-browser test coverage and interoperability.

Security and performance drove the implementation approach: a pure Rust reimplementation of the decoder, jxl-rs, was integrated to eliminate common memory-safety vulnerabilities in image decoders. Performance parity with C++ implementations was achieved using stabilized Rust SIMD support (target_feature_11) and a jxl_simd abstraction inspired by the Highway library, keeping unsafe code confined to small vetted areas. Optimization work reused libjxl strategies (region-border pipelines, minimal copies), and results are tracked on a public jxl-rs performance dashboard. The codebase underwent fuzzing and AI-assisted review with no memory-safety bugs found to date. Developers and content creators are encouraged to adopt .jxl, file bugs, and contribute to ongoing improvements.