JPEG XL (.jxl) is a next-generation image format, and it hides metadata in a way no other format does. It can store EXIF and XMP Brotli-compressed inside a box, so most inspectors recognise the file, find no literal Exif block, and report it as carrying nothing, while the GPS and camera details sit inside compressed. It can also encode a whole set of technical facts in its codestream header that only width and height are usually read from.
Scan a JPEG XL fileThe defining trick of JXL is the compressed metadata box. The reference encoder stores EXIF and XMP inside a Brotli-compressed "brob" box, and a tool that only looks for a plain Exif box finds nothing. This scanner decompresses that box and runs the recovered EXIF through the full image pipeline, so the GPS coordinates, camera identity and timestamps come out even when a check that appeared to come back clean saw none of it. A file that carries two EXIF blocks, an empty decoy ahead of the real compressed one, is flagged as well.
The codestream header itself is a data source most tools ignore beyond dimensions. A scan reads the orientation, the bit depth (floating-point samples signal HDR or professional capture), the transfer function and colour primaries that identify HDR-graded material, and the extra channels. A depth or thermal channel there betrays the kind of camera hardware used, such as a portrait-mode or infrared sensor. It also surfaces an embedded preview image, which is generated before edits and can show an earlier version of the picture.
A JXL can be a lossless repackage of an existing JPEG. When it is, it carries JPEG reconstruction data used to rebuild that original JPEG byte for byte, which reveals the file's true origin even though it now looks like a modern format. The full internal box structure is listed so you can see exactly how the file is put together.
If the file carries C2PA Content Credentials in a JUMBF box, the manifest is decoded for the producing tool, the real signing certificate, the named creator, the signed edit history, and any declaration of AI generation. JXL can even store that manifest Brotli-compressed, a form the official C2PA tools refuse to read, so credentials that would be invisible to the usual validators are still surfaced here.
This is a selection. The full field manual documents the fields read from each format.
Because JXL can store its EXIF and XMP Brotli-compressed inside a "brob" box. A tool that only looks for a plain Exif box finds nothing and calls the file clean. The metadata, including GPS, is still there; it just has to be decompressed first, which this scanner does.
Yes. EXIF, including GPS coordinates, camera model and timestamps, is preserved in a JXL, frequently in the compressed box rather than a plain one. The bare-codestream form of JXL is the exception: it has no metadata boxes at all, so any EXIF was dropped when it was made.
It can. A JXL made by losslessly repackaging a JPEG carries reconstruction data that can rebuild the original JPEG exactly. That reveals the file's real origin, which matters when a file's provenance is in question.
It is a C2PA Content Credentials manifest stored in a JUMBF box, recording the tool that produced the image and whether it declares AI generation. JXL can store this compressed in a way the official C2PA tools will not read, so it can be present yet invisible to the usual checks.
File X-Ray reads JXL but cannot produce a clean copy, because no browser can encode JPEG XL yet. To strip it, convert the file to JPEG or PNG first and scan the result again to confirm the metadata is gone.
File X-Ray reads JPEG XL files entirely in your browser - the file never leaves your device. This format is inspected, not modified. Scan a file now.