JPEG XL vs. AVIF for web use-cases

What has changed with JPEG XL and AVIF?

JPEG XL has gone from a Safari-only format to one with wider browser support. The web-platform-dx tracker lists Safari 17 (September 2023), Chrome 155 (6 October 2026) and Firefox 158 (13 October 2026), with Edge unsupported. It is still labelled "Limited availability", not Baseline. AVIF already covers about 93% of browsers.

Support was patchy until recently. Earlier in 2026, Chrome 145 had JPEG XL only behind a flag. Before Chrome 155, coverage was roughly 12 to 15%, almost all of it Safari. Check the current tracker before you act on any of this, because the picture is still moving.

Should a small business switch to JPEG XL now?

No. Do not replace anything with JPEG XL yet. Treat it as an optional extra layered on top of AVIF, WebP and JPEG. With Edge unsupported and the format still short of Baseline, a JPEG XL only site would break images for real customers.

Our view at Braynex Services is that the format war matters far less to a small business than whether your images are compressed at all. A 4 MB phone photo uploaded straight to a page costs you more than any choice between these two formats.

Which format gives smaller files, JPEG XL or AVIF?

It depends on quality. AVIF tends to win at very low bitrates (below about 0.4 bits per pixel), where images are heavily compressed. JPEG XL tends to win at higher quality, which suits product photos and portfolios where detail matters.

In one DebugBear benchmark, a 990 KB photo became 472 KB as JPEG XL and 507 KB as AVIF. Cloudinary found JPEG XL files about 20% smaller than AVIF at effort 6, encoded 2.5 times faster. These are single tests, so run your own images through both.

Is JPEG XL better for slow connections?

Often, yes, for large hero images. JPEG XL decodes progressively, so a usable preview needs about 1% of the file, against 10 to 15% for a progressive JPEG. AVIF has no true progressive mode, so a hero image can stay blank on a weak signal.

Safari's support was reported as partial, without progressive decoding or animation, so do not assume every browser gives you this benefit. For customers on mobile data, it is still a real argument for adding JPEG XL later.

Can I shrink my existing JPEG library with JPEG XL?

Yes, and this is the strongest practical case for it. Existing JPEGs can be recompressed to JPEG XL with savings of about 20% (a range of 13 to 22%), and the original can be restored byte for byte. Nothing is lost in the conversion.

That suits a photographer, estate agent or restaurant with thousands of archived images. Keep the originals, test the recompressed versions, and serve them only to browsers that support them.

Will my website platform even support it?

Probably not yet, and tooling is the real bottleneck. WordPress has supported AVIF natively since 6.5 (April 2024) but has no JPEG XL uploads as of mid 2026. Cloudinary and Fastly can generate JPEG XL, Cloudflare can only cache it, and CloudFront and Akamai have no native support.

If your host or CDN cannot produce the format, you will be converting files by hand. That is rarely worth it for a ten page business site.

What should I do this month?

Follow a short, low risk sequence:

1. Fix the basics first. Resize images to the size they display at and compress them. This usually beats any format change.
2. Serve AVIF with fallbacks. Use a picture element offering AVIF, then WebP, then JPEG.
3. Add JPEG XL only if your tooling allows it. Put it first in the picture element, so supporting browsers pick it up and others fall through.
4. Send a Vary: Accept header if your server chooses formats automatically, so caches do not serve the wrong file.
5. Test on a real phone over a mobile connection, not just your office broadband.

What is Braynex Services' view?

Own your image pipeline, and the format becomes a setting rather than a project.

When a business controls its own website and hosting, adopting a new format is a configuration change. When it is stuck on a rented platform, it waits for the vendor. That is one more reason we favour owned infrastructure over renting.

Speed has a commercial side too. A Manchester restaurant saw online orders rise 34% within four weeks of replacing a PDF menu with a live web menu. A fast, readable page is what turns visits into orders, and images are usually the heaviest part of it.

Want to know how fast your site really is?

If you are unsure whether your images are slowing down your site, or whether your platform can handle newer formats, book a free audit at braynexservices.com. Braynex Services will review your pages, show you what is costing you visitors, and tell you plainly what is worth fixing first.