How to Open a JXL File on Android
Android itself still can't decode JPEG XL, on a Pixel, a Samsung or anything else, which is why tapping a .jxl so often does nothing. What changed in October 2026 is the browsers: Chrome and Firefox. Here's what opens these files on a phone today, and what still doesn't.
by Robert Castillo · Published
The short answer
No version of Android decodes JPEG XL by itself. Google's own list of the media formats Android supports, last updated on 7 October 2026, names BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIF (from Android 9) and AVIF (from Android 12) for images, and that's the whole list. Gallery apps that ask the system to decode pictures therefore can't show a .jxl, and file managers can't draw a thumbnail for one.
Google Photos is in the same position. Its help page on supported file types lists .jpg, .heic, .heif, .png, .webp, .gif, .avif and «most RAW files» as photos it handles. JPEG XL isn't there.
Four things do work: Chrome 155 or later, which now decodes JPEG XL by default, Firefox 158 or later, which does too according to Mozilla, apps that carry their own decoder, and the viewer on this site, which decodes the file inside the browser tab.
| On Android | Opens a .jxl? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The system itself, any version | No | Not in Google's list of supported image formats |
| Google Photos, and so Pixel's gallery | No | Not among its supported photo types |
| Samsung Gallery | Not documented | Samsung uses JPEG XL inside raw files, not as .jxl |
| Chrome 155 or later | Yes, on web pages | On by default; needs Android 10 or later |
| Firefox 158 or later | Yes, on web pages | On by default since 13 October 2026, according to Mozilla; needs Android 8.0 or later |
| Fossify Gallery | Yes | Free on Google Play, brings its own decoder |
| Image Toolbox | Yes | Free on Google Play, reads and converts |
| This site's viewer | Yes | Any up-to-date browser, nothing to install |
Chrome for Android: on by default since version 155
On 6 October 2026 Google announced that Chrome is shipping decoding support for JPEG XL «starting from Chrome 155». Chrome Platform Status lists 155 as the shipping version for desktop, Android and Android WebView alike, and Chromium's source code confirms it: the JPEG XL switch is off by default in Chrome 145 and on by default from 155. Chrome 156 began reaching a small share of phones on 7 October and rolls out to everyone from 20 October; until then most phones are on 155.
In practice, any web page that serves a .jxl now shows it in Chrome on your phone, with no flags to touch. The same goes for apps that display web content through Android System WebView, once WebView is on version 155 or later.
Two conditions apply. Chrome needs Android 10 or later: Chrome 138 was the last version for Android 8 and 9, so Chrome on phones still running those will never get the decoder. And Chrome itself has to be current, which you can check under ⋮ → Settings → About Chrome. If you once experimented with chrome://flags/#enable-jxl-image-format, set it back to Default: the flag still exists in Chrome 156, and leaving it on «Disabled» overrides the new default.
The catch is local files. Showing a .jxl on a web page isn't the same as opening the one sitting in your Downloads folder. Chrome's Android manifest does declare image/jxl for its built-in media viewer, but Chrome only switches that viewer on for low-memory devices and for phones managed by an employer; that's the rule in its own MediaViewerUtils code. On an ordinary phone, Chrome won't even appear in the list when you tap a .jxl in your file manager.
That's exactly the gap the viewer on this site fills: you open the page in your browser, pick the file, and it's decoded on the phone itself. Firefox for Android 158, released on 13 October 2026, shows JPEG XL on web pages by default as well, according to Mozilla, and it still runs on Android 8.0 and later; the details are in its own guide. For Samsung Internet, Edge or Brave, test the browser rather than assume.
Samsung, Pixel and the other brands
Whether a gallery app opens a .jxl depends on whether it decodes images itself or hands the job to Android. Apps that bring their own decoder, like the ones further down this page, open it; anything that relies on Android alone can't, whatever the brand on the back of the phone.
Samsung
Samsung does use JPEG XL, but inside other files: since the Galaxy S24, its Expert RAW camera app saves DNG 1.7 raw files compressed with JPEG XL. Those are .dng files, not .jxl. We found no Samsung documentation saying Gallery opens a standalone .jxl.
Pixel
Pixel phones use Google Photos as their gallery, and Google Photos doesn't list JPEG XL among its supported types. On a Pixel, Google Photos can't open it; Chrome 155 can, on web pages.
Xiaomi, Motorola, OnePlus and the rest
Android itself has no JPEG XL decoder, and we found no phone maker documenting .jxl support in its own gallery, so plan as if yours doesn't.
Free apps on Google Play that open .jxl
Two apps on Google Play bring their own JPEG XL decoder and make sense to install if these files reach you regularly. Both are free and open source, carry no ads, and have more than 500,000 downloads each. Install them from the listings linked here and check the package name, because popular open-source apps attract copies.
Fossify Gallery
A full gallery app, package org.fossify.gallery (Google Play). JPEG XL support arrived in version 1.2.0 in September 2024 through the jxl-coder library, and later releases fixed large JXL images and opening .jxl files shared from other apps. Version 1.14.0, from 10 October 2026, is the current one.
Image Toolbox
An editor and converter, package ru.tech.imageresizershrinker (Google Play). It reads .jxl through the same jxl-coder library and converts JXL to JPEG and back, as well as animated JXL to GIF, APNG or WebP. Its last Play update was on 4 September 2026.
JxlViewer, outside Play
A small viewer for still and animated .jxl files, under the MIT licence. It isn't on Google Play; version 0.5.2, from 23 March 2026, is in the IzzyOnDroid repository for F-Droid clients.
Pick Fossify Gallery if you want an everyday gallery that also handles .jxl. Image Toolbox makes more sense when what you really need is a JPG to send on to someone else.
The no-install route: open it in your browser
1. Open the viewer
On the phone, go to the JPEG XL viewer in Chrome, Samsung Internet, Firefox or whichever browser you use.
2. Pick the file
Tap the box and choose the .jxl from Downloads, from your file manager or from the app that received it.
3. Look, then save a copy if you need one
The picture is decoded on the phone at full resolution. If you want it in your gallery, save it as JPG or PNG with one tap.
This doesn't depend on Chrome 155 or Firefox 158. The decoder is WebAssembly that ships with the page, so it works the same in browsers with no JPEG XL support of their own, and the file never leaves the phone.
Convert it, or keep it as JXL?
If .jxl files keep arriving and your gallery is where you look at photos, converting them is the permanent fix: a JPG opens in every app on every phone. The JXL to JPG converter runs in the phone's browser as well.
One thing is worth knowing first. Many .jxl files aren't new images at all but JPEGs repacked without loss; archiving tools do this, and so does our converter when you turn a JPEG into JXL in lossless mode. Those files can give you back the original JPEG exactly. We tested it on a 6.5 MB public-domain NASA photo: repacked with libjxl 0.12.0 it shrank to 4.99 MB, 23.4 % smaller, and djxl turned it back into a JPEG with the same SHA-256 checksum as the original, byte for byte.
Most converters, ours included, work differently: they decode the picture and write a new JPEG. For looking and sharing you won't see a difference, but if you're restoring a photo backup and want the untouched originals, run djxl on a computer; the command-line guide shows how.