Websites are created with a lot of code like HTML, JavaScript and more, but in terms of file size, images make up most of the page "weight". As such, web browsers sometime struggle to load pages with a lot of images. This week, Mozilla announced a new project that's designed to help that situation.
A future version of Firefox could load Neowin and other sites faster with the "mozjpeg" encoder.
It's called "mozjpeg" and according to Mozilla's research blog it's an attempt to create a JPEG encoder that will improve the compression of images while also allowing for compatibility for the majority of decoders. Mozilla points out that the JPEG file standard is still the one that most websites use and while some people have suggested a replacement for it, that won't be happening anytime soon.
The blog states:
Given this situation, we wondered if JPEG encoders have really reached their full compression potential after 20+ years. We talked to a number of engineers, and concluded that the answer is “no,” even within the constraints of strong compatibility requirements. With feedback on promising avenues for exploration in hand, we started the ‘mozjpeg’ project.
Mozilla has already released version 1.0 of "mozjpeg" which includes support for the perl script known as "jpgcrush". The script has been shown to reduce the file size of JPEG images by as much as 10 percent. Mozilla is looking to see if others would like to help in this new project.
Microsoft has made its own attempts to decrease load times on web browsers. It claimed a few months ago that its own compression techniques have cut the load times of website JPEG images by 45 percent on IE11 compared to older versions of the browser.
Source: Mozilla
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