RasterFox 3.2: JPEG XL

RasterFox 3.2 adds JPEG XL, the newer image format that makes smaller files than JPEG at the same quality and also keeps transparency and full color depth. Safari, Preview and Photos already open it, and now RasterFox can make it.

Two new output formats

JPEG XL and JPEG XL Lossless sit in the Convert To menu alongside WebP, AVIF and PNG, and they work from anything RasterFox opens: JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, HEIC, and JPEG XL itself. Lossless keeps every pixel exactly, transparency included, so it's a good home for screenshots and artwork you might want to edit again.

JPEG is the case I like best. Save a JPEG as JPEG XL Lossless and RasterFox doesn't decode and re-compress it. It repacks the original JPEG data more efficiently instead. The file gets smaller with nothing lost, and the exact original JPEG can be rebuilt from it, byte for byte, whenever you need it back.

Each preset has its own JPEG XL quality, and Settings and the compare window's inspector both have a JPEG XL section with Quality and Effort sliders. Higher effort makes smaller files and takes a little longer to encode.

Opening JPEG XL files

RasterFox now opens .jxl files as well. Optimizing one with Same as Original keeps it lossless or lossy, whichever it was, and never hands back a bigger file. Choosing JPEG XL for a lossless file converts it to the smaller lossy version. JPEG XL images can also be resized, upscaled, have their background removed, or be converted to any other format.

The command line too

The rasterfox command-line tool gets the same in 2.3.0: --to-jxl (or -x) converts to JPEG XL, --jxl-lossless makes it lossless, --jxl-effort sets the effort, and .jxl files work as input everywhere. Update with brew upgrade rasterfox-cli, or install it with brew install skulkworks/tap/rasterfox-cli.

3.2 is a free update for existing RasterFox owners. The direct download will offer it through the app, or get it from the RasterFox page or with Homebrew: brew install --cask skulkworks/tap/rasterfox. The 14-day trial includes JPEG XL along with everything else, and converting to it is part of Pro afterwards, like WebP. Pro is $9.99 once. Everything is in the changelog.