Chrome 145 Ships JPEG XL: What This Means for Web Developers
Google reversed its JPEG XL decision and Chrome 145 now supports JXL natively. Here's what changed, current browser support, and how to start using JPEG XL today.
Chrome 145 Ships JPEG XL: What This Means for Web Developers
Google removed JPEG XL support from Chrome in 2023, calling it insufficient in adoption. In late 2025, they reversed that decision. Chrome 145, released in early 2026, ships with native JPEG XL support enabled by default.
Here's what you need to know.
What Changed
In November 2025, the Chromium team announced they would add JPEG XL support back into Chrome. The reasons:
- Industry pressure — Meta, Adobe, Apple, and the photography industry pushed hard for JXL
- Apple's adoption — Safari added JPEG XL support, and iOS/macOS use it natively
- Unique capabilities — Lossless JPEG recompression has no equivalent in WebP or AVIF
- Standards body support — ISO standardized JPEG XL as the successor to JPEG
Current Browser Support (April 2026)
| Browser | JPEG XL Support | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome | ✅ Native | v145 (Feb 2026) |
| Edge | ✅ Native | v145 (Feb 2026) |
| Safari | ✅ Native | v17 (Sep 2023) |
| Firefox | 🔜 In Nightly | Expected stable mid-2026 |
Combined coverage: roughly 72% of global users. With Firefox support incoming, JXL should reach 90%+ by late 2026.
Why JPEG XL Matters
Lossless JPEG Recompression
This is JPEG XL's killer feature. You can convert any existing JPEG to JXL and get:
- 20% smaller file size
- Zero quality loss — the original JPEG is perfectly reconstructable
- No re-encoding artifacts
For sites with millions of existing JPEG images, this is free bandwidth savings with no quality trade-offs.
Progressive Decoding
JPEG XL loads progressively — the image appears at low quality first and sharpens as data arrives. This dramatically improves perceived loading speed, especially on slow connections.
Superior Photography Reproduction
JXL preserves fine detail, texture, and film grain better than AVIF or WebP. For photography sites, portfolios, and print preparation, the quality difference is visible.
How to Use JPEG XL Today
With Fallbacks (Recommended)
<picture>
<source srcset="photo.jxl" type="image/jxl" />
<source srcset="photo.avif" type="image/avif" />
<img src="photo.jpg" alt="Description" />
</picture>
Content Negotiation
If your CDN supports it, use Accept header negotiation to serve JXL to Chrome/Edge/Safari users automatically.
Converting Existing Images
In Konvrt, you can convert any image to JPEG XL:
- Open the converter
- Drop your JPEG, PNG, or WebP file
- Select JXL as the output format
- Adjust quality or select lossless mode
- Convert and download
For lossless JPEG recompression specifically, use lossless mode — this preserves the original JPEG data while reducing file size by ~20%.
Should You Switch to JPEG XL Now?
Not as your only format. Firefox stable support is still pending, and ~28% of users can't view JXL natively.
As an addition to your format stack? Yes. If you're already serving AVIF with WebP fallback, adding JXL as a first-choice option gives Chrome and Safari users even better quality and the benefit of progressive loading.
The practical approach for 2026: JXL → AVIF → WebP → JPEG fallback chain using the <picture> element.