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Luca Versari

About me

·431 words·3 mins

I am a computer scientist, software engineer, and mathematician. My work primarily centers on data compression, high performance software (especially in Rust), and long-term AI research in the Paradigms of Intelligence team at Google.

I also dedicate a significant part of my time to organizing Computer Science competitions. In particular, I am a member of the International Technical Committee of IOI (International Olympiads in Informatics), and I help organize various competitions in Italy and Switzerland. Recently, I was the main organizer of the European Girls Olympiads in Informatics 2026.

Main Projects
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1. Image & Data Compression
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  • JPEG XL: I was one of the main contributors of the libjxl reference encoder, standardization effort and format research. I am the main developer of jxl-rs, a fast Rust JPEG XL decoder used both in Firefox and Chrome.

  • High-Speed Encoders (fpnge / fjxl): I wrote very fast PNG and JXL encoders. Slides about those encoders, with links to code on GitHub, can be found here.

  • rbrotli-enc: I designed a fast, SIMD-based Rust Brotli encoder.

In my pursuit of faster compression code, I also contributed to a few features in the Rust language itself, most notably stabilizing target_feature_11 and working on designing better abstractions and features around SIMD code.

2. Olympiads-related projects #

  • wasm-ide: An entirely client-side IDE for C, C++ and Python, with full LSP integration. Nightly version here.

  • pixie: A system to automate the installation and management of computers during a large-scale informatics competition.

  • typst-translation: A typst-based system for translating task statements to different languages.

I am also one of the main maintainers of various contest and task preparation software, such as CMS and task-maker-rust

3. Publications
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See my Google Scholar page.

A notable recent work is the Mesanet paper.

University degrees & theses
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PhD in Computer Science, University of Pisa, Pisa (2017-2021) Compression Techniques for Large Graphs: Theory and Practice (pdf, slides).

Master’s degree in Computer Science, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (2015-2017)
A new algorithmic framework for enumerating commutable set properties (pdf, slides).

Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (2012-2015)
Ricerca veloce di pattern comuni a due grafi (pdf, slides).

Personal Interests
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  • Video Games: I enjoy JRPGs, city builders and good storytelling. Chrono Trigger is one of my favourite games of all time. For a more recent game, I really enjoyed playing Clair Obscur

  • Music: I frequently listen to classical, orchestral, and epic soundtrack music while working.

  • Science Fiction & Fantasy: I really like reading books and manga, watching movies and anime. My favourite genres are science fiction and fantasy (especially if time travel is involved).