JPEG XL vs AVIF: Compression, Quality, and Browser Support

JPEG XL produces 5-25% smaller files than AVIF for high-quality photographs, supports lossless JPEG transcoding, and handles images up to 1 billion pixels. AVIF works in every modern browser today, compresses better at low quality, and benefits from the AV1 hardware ecosystem. For web delivery right now, AVIF is practical. For archival and professional imaging, JPEG XL is technically superior.

Compression at High Quality

JPEG XL consistently outperforms AVIF when encoding photos at high to very high quality settings. Tests show JXL producing 5-25% smaller files than AVIF for the same perceptual quality on photographic content. The gap comes from JXL's more sophisticated compression engine, which was purpose-built for still images rather than derived from a video codec. At medium to low quality, the picture flips: AVIF smooths out details in a way that hides artifacts effectively, making it look better at aggressive compression levels.

Resolution and Color

AVIF has a maximum image size of 8193x4320 pixels in its baseline profile (derived from AV1's video frame limits). Tiling workarounds exist but add complexity. JPEG XL supports images up to 1,073,741,823 x 1,073,741,824 pixels. JXL also supports 32 bits per channel versus AVIF's 12, making it better for HDR photography, scientific imaging, and workflows that need smooth gradients without banding. For standard web images under 4K, both formats handle resolution fine.

Lossless JPEG Recompression

JPEG XL can losslessly transcode existing JPEG files to JXL format, reducing their size by about 20% with bit-for-bit reversibility back to the original JPEG. No other modern format offers this. If you have a large photo archive in JPEG, JXL lets you save storage without any quality loss or permanent format commitment. AVIF requires re-encoding from the source, which means lossy-to-lossy degradation if your originals are JPEG.

Browser Support

AVIF is supported in Chrome 85+, Firefox 93+, Safari 16.4+, and Edge 121+, covering about 95% of web users as of 2026. JPEG XL had a rough path: Chrome added experimental support in 2022, then removed it in 2023. As of 2026, JPEG XL is supported in Safari and some niche browsers but not in Chrome or Firefox. This makes AVIF the only practical choice for web deployment today. JPEG XL remains relevant for desktop applications, professional tools, and archival storage.

Which Should You Use?

For web images today, use AVIF. It has universal browser support, excellent compression, and works in standard CDN pipelines. For professional photography, archival storage, and applications where you control the viewer software, JPEG XL is the technically better format. If Chrome adds JXL support in the future, the calculus changes entirely. Until then, AVIF is the pragmatic choice.

Want to try next-gen formats? Our image to WebP converter handles another widely supported modern format. For more comparisons, see AVIF vs WebP, AVIF vs JPEG, and our best image format for web overview.