Chromium Reopens JPEG-XL Debate: Will Google Reinstate Support After Apple Adopted It?
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As early as 2021, engineers proposed adding support for the JPEG-XL image format to the Chromium browser project. JPEG-XL, the successor to the traditional JPEG standard, offers markedly improved compression efficiency while maintaining excellent compatibility.
Google eventually did introduce support for the format; however, at the time, no major browsers or platforms adopted it. In 2023, citing a lack of interest across the ecosystem, Google announced it would discontinue testing and subsequently removed JPEG-XL support from Chromium entirely.
Yet after Google abandoned the format, Apple moved in the opposite direction: Safari added JPEG-XL support, and the 2024 iPhone 16 Pro lineup included an option to capture photos in JPEG-XL. Apple’s commitment to the format has therefore grown increasingly comprehensive.
This leaves Google in an awkward position: should Chromium restore support for JPEG-XL? The debate, which began in 2023, has continued ever since. Now, the original 2021 issue requesting JPEG-XL support has been reopened — widely interpreted as the first step toward reinstating the feature.
If Chromium adopts JPEG-XL again, the majority of browsers will follow, as Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, and Opera all rely on Chromium. Safari already supports the format.
Firefox, meanwhile, is evaluating the integration of a Rust-based component to enable JPEG-XL decoding. If adopted, nearly all mainstream browsers would ultimately support the format. Should Windows and Linux add native support as well, JPEG-XL would be positioned for near-perfect ubiquity.
For now, however, Google has merely reopened the discussion. A concrete timeline for restoring support remains unknown and may take months — or longer. In the meantime, users will not be able to view JXL images through Chrome.
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