Quick answer: Google’s John Mueller has confirmed that JPEG XL (.jxl) is “currently not supported” for images shown in Google Images or as Google Discover previews. Google’s documentation lists BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG and AVIF as the supported formats. If you want images to appear in Google Images and Discover, keep a supported format available.
What happened
Mueller made the comment in a Bluesky post on October 15, 2026, linking to Google’s image SEO documentation. Search Engine Roundtable reported it on October 23. The same day, Glenn Gabe noticed a number of .jxl files indexed in Google Images when searching by file type, which suggests some limited handling, but Google’s official position is that JPEG XL is not supported for these surfaces.
What is JPEG XL?
JPEG XL is an open image format defined by ISO/IEC 18181. Its benefits include better compression than standard JPEG, lossless recompression of existing JPEG files, support for HDR and wide color, and fast decoding. These advantages have made it popular with developers looking to cut page weight.
Why it matters
Image search and Discover can be meaningful traffic sources, especially for publishers, ecommerce and recipe sites. Switching entirely to JPEG XL could mean images are not eligible to show in those features, even if the pages themselves rank normally.
Key facts
- Statement: JPEG XL is “currently not supported” in Google Images and Discover previews
- Who: John Mueller, Google
- When: October 15, 2026 (reported October 23)
- Supported formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, AVIF
What to do now
- Use AVIF or WebP for modern compression with Google support.
- If you serve JPEG XL, use the HTML picture element with a supported fallback in the img src.
- Make sure Discover-eligible pages have a large, supported image (at least 1200px wide) set via structured data or og:image.
FAQ
Will JPEG XL hurt my rankings?
It should not affect normal web rankings, but the images may not appear in Google Images or as Discover previews.
What is the best image format for Google?
WebP and AVIF offer strong compression and are supported, with JPEG and PNG as safe fallbacks.
