Mozilla today announced the release of mozjpeg 2.0, an enhanced version of it’s original mozjpeg image encoder.
The new encoder provides larger compression improvements than previous encoders. Mozilla says mozjpeg jand can compress both baseline and progressive JPEGs, reducing the size of either by an average 5 percent, with many images showing significantly larger reductions. Previous versions of mozjpeg only improved compression for progressive JPEGs.
Facebook, whose servers contain perhaps the world’s biggest photo collections, says it’s testing mozjpeg 2.0 to improve the compression of images on Facebook.com.
"Facebook supports the work Mozilla has done in building a JPEG encoder that can create smaller JPEGs without compromising the visual quality of photos," says Stacy Kerkela, software engineering manager at Facebook, in a statement. "We look forward to seeing the potential benefits mozjpeg 2.0 might bring in optimizing images and creating an improved experience for people to share and connect on Facebook."
Facebook, Mozilla says, has donated $60,000 help fund the ongoing development of the technology, including the next version of the encoder, mozjpeg 3.0.
The new mozjpeg 2.0 encoder could improve web performance for lots of users, and does not require users to adopt some file format other than .jpeg.
“The end goal is to reduce page load times and ultimately create an enhanced user experience for sites hosting images,” Mozilla says in a statement.
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