JPEG XL images aren’t currently supported in Google Images or as previews in Discover, Google Search Advocate John Mueller said on Bluesky.
His article came as browsers added the format. JPEG XL assistance arrived in Chrome 155, which Google began rolling out extensively on Oct. 6 following early releases to a small percent of users starting Sept. 23. Firefox followed alongside Firefox 158 on Oct. 13.
In a reply, Mueller explained that serving JPEG XL through a image component should activity alongside any hunt engine, since the component includes a regular img element.
What Mueller Said
Mueller posted on Oct. 15 in a thread concerning JPEG XL. The article contained Mueller’s nexus to the depiction SEO records of Google; Mueller additionally stated:
“FWIW if you’re expecting to get images shown in Google Images & as previews in Discover, etc – JPEG-XL is currently not supported”
Google Chrome developer protagonist Barry Pollard responded alongside a communication stating that it is fine custom for developers to contain fallback options for their websites since JPEG XL is new to the two Chrome and Firefox. Pollard additionally asked if Search would be capable to grip those fallbacks in a image element.
Mueller answered:
“The image component includes an img element, so that would activity for any hunt motor (or another leaf parsing setup). I have not heard of any problems alongside group doing this benevolent of advancing enhancement”
What Google’s Documentation Lists
Google’s image SEO finest practices leaf carries the format catalog Mueller pointed to:
“Google Search supports images referenced in the src trait of img in the following document formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, and AVIF.”
According to the identical page, Google volition be capable to discover images that are located inside the src trait of an img tag equal if they’re contained by another tags specified as the image tag. Also according to the identical page, it is recommended to contain a fallback URL for the src trait of the img element, as several browsers and crawlers do not assistance or cannot peruse image or srcset.
In addition, Google’s catalog of file types it can index includes the identical seven depiction formats listed above, but the two pages did not citation JPEG XL. The depiction SEO leaf was most lately updated on March 2; there were no entries concerning JPEG XL in the Search Central records changelog as of Oct. 20.
Regarding Discover, Google’s recommendations contain adding a larger size preview depiction using either schema.org markup or the og:image meta-tag; it states this can power what depiction Discover displays as a thumbnail.
Where Browser Support Stands
JPEG XL is supported in Safari commencement alongside type 17 in 2023.
The browser-support tracker webstatus.dev indicates that JPEG XL has a “limited” preparedness status, alongside no Edge publish noted.
Chrome’s squad says JPEG XL provides “30-50% improved compression than JPEG” and lossless compression capabilities. In addition, they say it supports HDR. They propose evaluation the two AVIF and JPEG XL.
They accept that JPEG XL volition have greater value for users requiring either lossless compression or higher fidelity images, particularly whenever compressing photographs.
AVIF was introduced into Search by Google about four years following it was archetypal introduced into Chrome.
In August 2020, Chrome 85 was released alongside AVIF support. On Aug. 30, 2024, Google announced that AVIF was now supported by Search. That declaration indicated that AVIF is currently being supported by all important web browser; according to webstatus.dev, the final of these was Edge, in January 2024.
Why This Matters
An depiction that is a .jxl volition display up in the two Chrome and Firefox; yet, according to Google, Images and Discover do not currently assistance .jxl.
As lengthy as you assist your JPEG XL depiction as a image origin (with your JPEG, WebP or AVIF as the img source) afterward one of Google’s listed formats volition be in the “src” trait of the img tag, which is anywhere Google states their records shows they appearance for pictures. Also, you should create certain that your og:image and schema.org depiction links to a format from this catalog as fine since these are the types of tags Google’s Discover guide recommends for preview images.
Looking Ahead
Watch the format catalog on Google’s depiction SEO leaf and the Search Central blog, anywhere Google announced AVIF assistance in 2024. Neither Mueller’s article nor the depiction SEO leaf gives a timeline for JPEG XL.
Featured Image: Koshiro K/Shutterstock
