JPEG is getting old long in the tooth, which prompted the creation of JPEG XL, which is a fairly future-proof new compression standard that can compress images to the same file size or smaller than regular JPEG while having massively higher quality.
However, JPEG XL support was removed from Google Chrome based browsers in favor of AVIF, a standalone image compression derived from the AV1 video compression codec that is decidedly not future-proof, having some hard-coded limitations, as well as missing some very nice to have features that JPEG XL offers such as progressive image loading and lower hardware requirements. The result of this is that JPEG XL adoption will be severely hamstrung by Google’s decision, which is ultimately pretty lame.
And here we have a clear example of how Chrome’s almost monopoly is a bad thing for us.
AV1 Image File Format is an open, royalty-free image file format
While I am by no means trying to defend Google, or their monopoly, I’m struggling to see how this time is a “clear example” of monopolistic behaviour?
Like, take for contrast the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) image format HEIC, which Apple has adopted as it’s main high-res format on iOS. It’s proprietary, and that fact is indeed worrying. However, the only reason I can figure out for Google’s move here being a ‘bad’ thing, is if you’re nostalgic about the .jpg extension…
I hope an opensource, non-C/C++ browser will pop up that can claw back from Chrome/Chromium. It’s about time.
Why not just say Rust? There isn’t really anything else that would provide good enough performance for a browser engine with modern heavy webpages while also fixing some major pain point of C/C++
Once again I find myself thinking, “Dammit, Google!”
Thank you very much for the text summary, I really appreciate it :)
I’d also highly recommend reading https://endsoftwarepatents.org/2023/04/googles-decision-to-deprecate-jpeg-xl-emphasizes-the-need-for-browser-choice-and-free-formats/ — more than features and future proofing, the big issue here is patents. Google controls the patents for AVIF.
Then again, I use HEIF, which is alternately patent encumbered, and default to PNG and SVG for web-facing graphics.
