Immich 3.4 adds JPEG XL support, OCR workflows, and security hardening

Immich 3.4 introduces JPEG XL decoding in its mobile applications and enables the server to use JXL as a target format for image storage, giving self-hosting users access to a more efficient compression codec than traditional JPEG. Mobile users gain native tag management and smoother timeline scrubbing without requiring the web interface.

The release significantly expands automation capabilities by allowing workflows to trigger after OCR completes and filter assets based on detected text content, enabling use cases like automatic receipt sorting. Security improvements tighten access controls around shared links, partner timelines, and duplicate detection while removing unsafe-inline from the Content Security Policy and hardening OAuth cookie handling. Performance optimizations reduce server load for large collections by avoiding full asset retrieval on common album operations, and backup processes gain parallel scanning and optional pigz compression.

What changes in Immich 3.4

• JPEG XL support: The mobile app gains JXL decoding capabilities, while the server can now encode and store images in JPEG XL format, offering improved compression efficiency over legacy formats.
• OCR-driven automation: Workflow triggers now execute after OCR processing completes, and a new OCR text filter enables automatic asset organization based on recognized text patterns in scanned documents or images.
• EXIF metadata filters: Two new workflow conditions, missing and present, allow automation rules to test for the existence of metadata fields rather than requiring pattern-based matching.
• Security hardening: Shared-link viewers are blocked from accessing album membership details, duplicate detection now requires proper upload permissions, plugin host validation is strengthened, and the Content Security Policy drops unsafe-inline.
• Performance and backup improvements: Album and shared-link operations avoid fetching complete asset lists for common requests, database synchronization benefits from improved indexing, RKNN ML models consume less memory, and Restic backups support parallel scanning with optional pigz compression.

Why it matters

JPEG XL support in Immich advances adoption of royalty-free modern image formats in the self-hosting space, reducing storage costs for users managing large personal media libraries. The OCR workflow integration demonstrates how open-source photo management can compete with proprietary cloud services on automation capabilities while keeping data under user control. For Linux server administrators running Immich containers, the backup and indexing improvements directly reduce resource overhead and maintenance burden.