JPEG XL Returns to Chrome: From Obsolete to the Future

How JPEG XL went from "obsolete" to the future of web images - and the honor of being part of its comeback

Status: ✅ LANDED — JPEG XL is now supported in Chromium Canary 145.0.7632.0+!

The Story

In October 2022, Google removed JPEG XL from Chromium, citing "insufficient ecosystem interest."

In November 2025, Chrome's Architecture Tech Leads announced: "We would welcome contributions to integrate a performant and memory-safe JPEG XL decoder in Chromium."

What changed?

• Safari shipped JPEG XL — Apple implemented the format
• Firefox updated their position — Mozilla signaled support pending a Rust decoder
• PDF standardization — JPEG XL designated as the preferred format for HDR in PDF
• Developer demand — Bug upvotes, Interop proposals, and survey data

Why JPEG XL?

• 30-50% better compression than JPEG at equivalent quality
• Lossless JPEG transcoding with ~20% size reduction
• Progressive decoding — images load incrementally
• Modern capabilities — HDR, wide gamut, alpha, animations
• Cross-browser momentum — Safari ships it, Firefox is working on it

Implementation

Phase 1: C++ (Abandoned)

Initial approach used libjxl in C++. Feature complete with animation support, but feedback requested Rust for memory safety.

ABANDONED CL 7170439 — C++ implementation (superseded by Rust)

Phase 2: Rust (Current)

Pivoted to jxl-rs, a pure Rust decoder. Memory-safe and aligned with Chromium's direction.

MERGED CL 7201443 — Add jxl-rs to third_party (73,908 lines)

Blink integration:

1. MERGED CL 7320482 — Add JXL infrastructure: enums and build flag
2. MERGED CL 7319379 — Add JXL image decoder using jxl-rs
3. MERGED CL 7184969 — Wire up JXL decoder (The final piece!)

The Rust decoder required significant optimization. The jxl-rs community merged 26 PRs in December 2025:

Current Status

✅ Standard image decoding
✅ ICC color profiles
✅ Animations (multi-frame)
✅ Alpha/transparency
✅ Wide gamut (Display-P3)
✅ HDR support (PQ/HLG)

Chromium rolls:

• MERGED Roll jxl 0.2.1 → 0.2.2
• MERGED Roll jxl 0.2.0 → 0.2.1
• MERGED Roll jxl 0.1.5 → 0.2.0

Use JPEG XL Today

Don't want to wait? The jxl-rs-polyfill brings JPEG XL to all browsers now.

One line of code:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/jxl-rs-polyfill/dist/auto.js"></script>

That's it. All .jxl images work everywhere.

• Auto-detection — skips polyfill in Safari 17+ (native support)
• Zero config — just include the script
• Full coverage — <img>, CSS backgrounds, <picture>, SVG
• ~540KB gzipped — compact WASM module

npm install jxl-rs-polyfill

import { JXLPolyfill } from 'jxl-rs-polyfill';
const polyfill = new JXLPolyfill();
await polyfill.start();

import { decodeJxlToPng } from 'jxl-rs-polyfill';
const pngBytes = await decodeJxlToPng(jxlBytes);

→ GitHub: jxl-rs-polyfill

Live Demo

JXL animation support — no browser supports JXL animations natively yet, so this uses the WASM polyfill:

Force Polyfill (See Animation)

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Luca Versari (veluca93) for reviewing PRs and managing jxl-rs releases. The collaboration from jxl-rs maintainers made this possible.

Resources:

• Rick Byers' Announcement
• Tracking Bug: 462919304
• Design Document
• jxl-rs Repository | My PRs (23 merged)
• jxl-rs-polyfill
• Press: Heise | DevClass