A compact, small active volume (70 cc) discharge pumped KrCl laser with UV preionization is described. The results obtained show that KrCl compares well with the performance obtainable from the well established XeCl and KrF lasers. Considerably improved laser output energy density (&bartil;2.5 J/1) is achieved at very high discharge power loadings (&bartil;24 MW/cc), with a good power conversion efficiency (0.8%) and a long gas static lifetime. The output laser beam is reproducible and uniform with a cross section of 2×1 cm2.