Chrome brings JPEG XL back with a Rust decoder

Chrome is adding JPEG XL image decoding starting with version 155, using the Rust implementation jxl-rs. The format supports lossless compression, HDR and progressive decoding. The decoder combines Rust with a SIMD abstraction layer to use processor vector instructions efficiently, while keeping unsafe operations concentrated in a small set of reviewed locations.

Chrome for Developers · Oct 6, 2026

Why it matters

Web teams gain another image-format option, and systems engineers get a concrete example of a memory-safety migration in a browser.

More context

Try JPEG XL and AVIF on representative images and compare quality, size and decoding behavior. The Chrome team highlights high-fidelity photographic images and progressive delivery as useful cases. Keep compatible fallbacks for browsers and versions without support.

Keep in mind

The announcement does not make JPEG XL universally supported or universally smaller. The team’s fuzzing and review results are reported evidence, not a guarantee that the decoder has no bugs. We have not benchmarked it.

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