Chrome is shipping JPEG XL support, according to a new Chrome Developers blog post.
The post, titled "Shipping JPEG XL in Chrome," confirms the browser now supports the format natively. It appeared on Chrome's own developer blog and shot to the top of Hacker News, pulling 474 points and 304 comments - a comment count usually reserved for security incidents, not codec news. That volume suggests the decision lands squarely on an issue a vocal set of developers and photographers have been tracking closely.
Here's the context missing from most "we shipped a feature" posts: Chrome removed JPEG XL's experimental flag back in 2023, opting to back AVIF instead. That call drew sustained pushback, including from Adobe and photography-focused developers who wanted JPEG XL's smaller file sizes and lossless options. Shipping it now effectively reverses that decision, after roughly three years of bug-tracker complaints and open letters failed to budge the team - until, apparently, they did.
Google walking back a format decision because enough people complained isn't new. It's a good reminder that "we're not shipping this" is rarely final in browser-land - it just means nobody's convinced them yet.