Google has officially introduced native support for the JPEG XL image format in the newly released Chrome 155 browser. This update follows the company's earlier announcement regarding the integration of this format into the Chromium engine, positioning Chrome alongside Safari and Firefox in adopting the new standard.
The primary advantage of JPEG XL is its compression efficiency, which is approximately 30% to 50% higher than traditional JPEG. The format also supports native HDR, lossless compression, and lossless transcoding of existing JPEG files. Google notes that it often outperforms AVIF in high-quality photography applications.
To enhance security, Google developed the JPEG XL decoder using the Rust programming language, replacing traditional C++ implementations that were prone to vulnerabilities. The decoder leverages memory safety features provided by Rust while maintaining high performance through SIMD instructions and optimizations from the jxl-rs project.
The development team verified the new decoder using AI-driven code reviews and fuzz testing, reporting no memory safety issues to date. Furthermore, Google is participating in the Interop 2026 research initiative to ensure cross-platform compatibility and consistent implementation across different web browsers.
