{"id":22295,"date":"2021-02-22T14:56:08","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T21:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/time_for_next_gen_codecs_to_dethrone_jpeg"},"modified":"2025-08-21T12:17:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T19:17:22","slug":"time_for_next_gen_codecs_to_dethrone_jpeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloudinary.com\/blog\/time_for_next_gen_codecs_to_dethrone_jpeg","title":{"rendered":"Time for Next-Gen Codecs to Dethrone JPEG"},"content":{"rendered":"

I can be quite passionate about image codecs. A \u201ccodec battle\u201d is brewing, and I\u2019m not the only one to have opinions<\/a> about that. Obviously, as the chair of the JPEG XL ad hoc group in the JPEG Committee, I\u2019m firmly in the camp of the codec I\u2019ve been working on for years. Here in this post, however, I\u2019ll strive to be fair and neutral.<\/p>\n

The objective is clear: dethroning JPEG, the wise old Grandmaster of Image Compression who ruled supreme during the first 25 years of the existence of the <img><\/code> tag and, therefore, of images on the web. As superb a codec as JPEG was, it\u2019s now hitting its limits. Why? The lack of alpha transparency support alone is annoying enough, let alone the 8-bit limit (so no HDR) and the relatively weak compression compared to the current state of the art. Clearly, the time is ripe for a regime change.<\/p>\n

\"Chess<\/p>\n

Six combatants have entered the playing field so far:<\/p>\n