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JPEG XL vs WebP

Comparing JPEG XL and Web Picture Format - which format should you use?

	JPEG XL	WebP
Full Name	JPEG XL	Web Picture Format
Extension	.jxl	.webp
MIME Type	image/jxl	image/webp
Category	image	image

JPEG XL Pros

+Better compression than JPEG, PNG, WebP, and AVIF in many cases
+Lossless JPEG recompression (save 20% with zero quality loss)
+Supports both lossy and lossless
+Progressive decoding (image loads gradually)
+Royalty-free, open standard

JPEG XL Cons

-Limited browser support (Chrome re-enabled Jan 2026, Firefox behind flag)
-Very new - limited software ecosystem
-Encoding is slow for highest quality settings
-Safari support uncertain

WebP Pros

+25-35% smaller than JPEG at same quality
+Supports transparency (like PNG)
+Supports animation (like GIF)
+Supported by all modern browsers

WebP Cons

-Not universally supported in older software
-Lossy mode can produce different artifacts than JPEG
-Limited support in print workflows
-Some social media platforms don't accept WebP

Use JPEG XL when...

-Archival photography (lossless mode)
-JPEG file size reduction (lossless transcode)
-Web images (as browser support grows)
-Professional photography workflows

Use WebP when...

-Website images (best format for web)
-Progressive web apps
-Replacing both PNG and JPEG on websites
-Animated images (better than GIF)

Learn more about JPEG XL Learn more about WebP