JPEG XL Deserves Attention — Here's What You Need to Know

JPEG XL is quietly becoming the future of image compression, and if you're building for the web in 2024, you should know why.

The numbers are impressive: up to 90% file size reduction compared to JPEG, better quality at smaller sizes, and support for both lossy and lossless compression. Unlike WebP, JPEG XL handles progressive decoding beautifully—users see content faster, even on slow connections.

Browser support is growing. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari are rolling it out. Edge already has it enabled by default. Even better? It's backward compatible with existing JPEG workflows.

Here's the practical part. Converting images is straightforward:

// Using Pixozip API for JPEG XL conversion
const convertToJXL = async (imageFile) => {
 const formData = new FormData();
 formData.append('image', imageFile);

 const response = await fetch('https://api.pixozip.com/convert', {
 method: 'POST',
 body: formData,
 headers: { 'format': 'jxl' }
 });

 return response.blob();
};

The JPEG XL vs AVIF debate is real, but XL wins on compression ratio and encoding speed. AVIF is great for specific use cases, but XL is the all-rounder.

Start experimenting now. Your users' bandwidth will thank you.