So i was driving to work recently and happened across a video essay about something very interesting. The writer/presenter was talking about what he coined "JPEG 2.0."

For anyone in design/photography you'll recognize that this is odd.

JPEG is an image format. Perhaps one of the most common in the whole industry.

For there to be a 2.0 seems strange because of the fact that we already have so many alternatives we already use. RAW formats, PNG, among others give us more usability than JPEG while retaining more quality. However the almighty

JPEG is not to be trifled with since it has insane staying power.

With that in mind, then, i listened with interest peaked.

According to the video JPEG 2.0 is actually called JPEG XL, or .JXL.

Apparently it has better file compression, while simultaneously having higher file quality. Things like color values and what not are more true to form, and, get this, .jxl files actually have the ability to work with alpha channels and transparency.

I mean it almost seems too little to late, considering eh wide spread power of png files, however, it is an interesting notion. A jpeg file that DOESNT need to be converted to a png to retain a transparency layer.

Now, what this all means long term i can't say. But i did think it interesting enough to write down my thoughts here in the hopes that someone, somewhere, would read this and our minds might sync on the same wavelength even if only for a brief moment.