diff --git a/gemma/multimodal/image.py b/gemma/multimodal/image.py
index 91f1ff4a..dca88fd6 100644
--- a/gemma/multimodal/image.py
+++ b/gemma/multimodal/image.py
@@ -18,12 +18,12 @@
 from collections.abc import Sequence
 import einops
 from etils import epath
+import io
 import jax
 from jax import numpy as jnp
 from kauldron import typing
 import numpy as np
 from PIL import Image
-import tensorflow as tf
 
 _IMAGE_MEAN = (127.5,) * 3
 _IMAGE_STD = (127.5,) * 3
@@ -70,10 +70,12 @@ def pre_process_image(
     The pre-processed image.
   """
   # all inputs are expected to have been jpeg compressed.
-  # TODO(eyvinec): we should remove tf dependency.
-  image = jnp.asarray(
-      tf.image.decode_jpeg(tf.io.encode_jpeg(image), channels=3)
-  )
+  # Perform JPEG encode/decode to normalize image (matches original behavior)
+  pil_image = Image.fromarray(np.uint8(image))
+  buffer = io.BytesIO()
+  pil_image.save(buffer, format="JPEG")
+  buffer.seek(0)
+  image = jnp.asarray(np.array(Image.open(buffer).convert("RGB")))
   image = jax.image.resize(
       image,
       shape=(image_height, image_width, 3),