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Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms

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Re: Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One particularly interesting (to me, at least) approach using progressive decoding was described by Jake Archibald ( https://jakearchibald.com/2025/present-and-future-of-progres... ). If browsers extended `srcset` with support for HTTP Range requests, we could use a progressive-encoded jpg (xl or not) file as the source for multiple detail levels. A device with a small screen would request the first 10kb of the image…

I don't think this is going to work out. With the way progressive loading works in JXL, you don't really hit "good looking" points aside from at DC resolution.

Just being able to get 1/2, 1/4 or 1/8th of the image resolution would already cover most of the srcset use case and the results are good enough for many existing image decoders to already use this optimization for the decoding if not the network part.

Re: Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the basic job of showing a normal 24bpp photo on screen, the differences between the formats are marginal. jxl shines when you want to do anything even a little bit more complex. Support for lots more color formats, including fp ones. Support for an image with parts of it encoded losslessly, and parts with a lossy encoder. Great progressive decoding. And many more features.

The part of jpeg-xl I'm most excited for is when the 3d community starts standardizing the extra channels for depth maps, bump maps, roughness etc in the extra channels. You can use a single jpeg-xl as a full material system with progressive decoding for LOD and all the rest.

Does jxl support specifying what each channel contains rather than just having a channel number with a convention? I guess you could always add it as additional metadata if such a field doesn't exist already.

Re: Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms

#123
post #7
post #2

I'm curious how many HN people in 2026 have not yet heard of JPEG XL / jxl

I have only heard of it in passing. I wonder what it adds beyond Webp and Avif.

One thing I’ve not seen mentioned: encoding speed. Encoding to webp (and I think Avif) is really slow, while at lower effort levels, JXL should easily be fast enough for on-the-fly.

Re: Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms

#124
post #27

Will they add it to Firefox 115 for the remaining Windows 7/8 users or will you need a new operating system to add an image format?

The remaining users on EoL platforms should move on to supported ones.

That would be a more reasonable thing to say if the successor platforms weren't such user-hostile collections of dark patterns.

Re: Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is gonna do what apple wants.

What a funny tangent to go off on. JXL was dead. Apple is who brought it back to life[1], and the only reason Chrome resurrected JXL, and now Firefox followed their path, is because Apple pushed JXL support to a billion plus devices. I know people like complaining about Apple, but there's a "read the room" kind of moment where people just seem to either not know the context or are just knee jerking. [1] Worth noting…

Safari using the reference implementation is meaningless because they don't even seem to turn on all features in it. Mozilla and Chromium declared that progressive decoding was the main blocker, the authors added it to libjxl-rs earlier this year, then now they're shipping it. Safari hasn't enabled progressive decoding or animation even though it's been in libjxl since 2022. If I wasn't in the trenches of Cordova/React development a decade ago, I would say I'm baffled.

Re: Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms

#126
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect the real reason is safety. Rust isn't bulletproof but it's certainly much better than C++ when it comes to defending against memory corruption related attacks. And when you are building a decoder for untrusted data sent over the internet, this kind of thing matters a lot more.

For safety in decoding, isn't there WUFFS, also by Google, that's guaranteed safe and fast?

TIL: wuffs - Wrangling Untrusted File Formats Safely

https://github.com/google/wuffs

Re: Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms

#127
post #90

I had assumed that JPEG XL was for JPEGs that are Xtra Large, since that's what XL means on clothing and pretty much everywhere else. But apparently not: > 'The etymology of the name "XL" is as follows: JPEG has called all its new standards since j2k something that starts with an X: XR, XT, XS (S for speed, since it is very fast and ultra-low-latency), and now XL. The L is supposed to mean Long term, since the goal i…

You can refer to JPEG XL as its file extension `jxl` pronounced "jixel" ;)

Re: Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms

#128
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What Updates tied? App Store updates use same networking and storage as OS? Why it is bad?

because updating a single app via the app store is faster than updating the whole OS. Having a security vulnerability in a browser could be fixed immediately, but having to ship out a whole new OS leaves it open for a while. Especially with users generally being against/too lazy to do OS updates

Exactly this. We so often see people still using iOS versions from ~4 years ago despite having options to update. Apple holds the ecosystem back.

Re: Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms

#129
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What Updates tied? App Store updates use same networking and storage as OS? Why it is bad?

because updating a single app via the app store is faster than updating the whole OS. Having a security vulnerability in a browser could be fixed immediately, but having to ship out a whole new OS leaves it open for a while. Especially with users generally being against/too lazy to do OS updates

Except that they can and have pushed security updates that are not necessarily OS updates. Granted the process is still through the settings app, but the point still stands. They have a channel for pushing yellow and red alert updates. Anything else can easily wait a couple of months.

Re: Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms

#130
post #71
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife, son and me not using Safari. Do not see how Safari relates to App Store. We use App Store.

The point of a PWA is that instead of downloading an actual binary app, you essentially get a webpage that runs like it was an app. They can be installed from anywhere and are safe by nature because they're really just webpages. That was the original conception of iPhone apps, until Steve Jobs realized just how much money could be made from the app store. Now you get to pay Apple a 30% cut for the privilege of instal…

> Now you get to pay Apple a 30% cut for the privilege of installing software on your own device!

Kneejerk reactions everywhere! Wow. And to think HN commenters like to think themselves superior to other reddit/instagram/linkedin/social media users.

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