Chrome’s new Maglev compiler leads to latest Speedometer, Jetstream increases

Abner Li | Jun 2 2023 - 4:13 pm PT

Google’s continued work to speed up Chrome sees its new Maglev just-in-time compiler boost browser performance across various benchmarks.

Maglev is Chrome’s new mid-tier compiler that “can quickly generate performant machine code for all relevant functions within the first one-hundredth of a second.”

It reduces overall CPU time to compile code while also saving battery life. Our measurements show Maglev has provided a 7.5 percent improvement on Jetstream and a 5 percent improvement in Speedometer

Thanks to Maglev and other adjustments, like optimized function calls, Chrome now scores 491 on Apple’s Speedometer benchmark. For comparison, Chrome scored 330 a year ago.

The Speedometer-related V8 engine optimizations also “drove significant improvements” for Jetstream, a JavaScript and WebAssembly benchmark for advanced web apps. Google says, “Maglev drove the biggest gains in this benchmark” (330.939). Both scores were recorded on Chrome 116.0.5803.2 running on an M2 MacBook Air with Maglev enabled.

The last improvement today is to MotionMark, which tests “how much browser graphics systems can render at high frame rates.” The score – 4821.30 running on Chrome 115.0.5773.4 and a 13″ M2 MacBook Pro – has improved 3x since last year.

Chrome’s graphics and rendering teams have tracked over 20 optimizations since the start of the year, and more than half are available today. Together, these optimizations have almost tripled performance

Google has specifically improved Canvas performance, profile-guided optimization, GPU task scheduling, and layer compositing. Additionally: