Image compression

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Image compression is the application of Data compression on digital images. In effect, the objective is to reduce redundancy of the image data in order to be able to store or transmit data in an efficient form.

Image compression can be lossy or lossless. Lossless compression is sometimes preferred for artificial images such as technical drawings, icons or comics. This is because lossy compression methods, especially when used at low bit rates, introduce compression artifacts. Lossless compression methods may also be preferred for high value content, such as medical imagery or image scans made for archival purposes. Lossy methods are especially suitable for natural images such as photos in applications where minor (sometimes imperceptible) loss of fidelity is acceptable to achieve a substantial reduction in bit rate.

Methods for lossless image compression are:

Run-length encoding - used as default method in PCX and as one of possible in BMP, TGA, TIFF
Entropy coding
Adaptive dictionary algorithms such as LZW - used in GIF and TIFF
Deflation - used in PNG, MNG and TIFF

Methods for lossy compression:

Reducing the color space to the most common colors in the image. The selected colors are specified in the color palette in the header of the compressed image. Each pixel just references the index of a color in the color palette. This method can be combined with dithering to avoid posterization.
Chroma subsampling. This takes advantage of the fact that the eye perceives brightness more sharply than color, by dropping half or more of the chrominance information in the image.
Transform coding. This is the most commonly used method. A Fourier-related transform such as DCT or the wavelet transform are applied, followed by quantization and entropy coding.
Fractal compression.

The best image quality at a given bit-rate (or compression rate) is the main goal of image compression. However, there are other important properties of image compression schemes:

Scalability generally refers to a quality reduction achieved by manipulation of the bitstream or file (without decompression and re-compression). Other names for scalability are progressive coding or embedded bitstreams. Despite its contrary nature, scalability can also be found in lossless codecs, usually in form of coarse-to-fine pixel scans. Scalability is especially useful for previewing images while downloading them (e.g. in a web browser) or for providing variable quality access to e.g. databases. There are several types of scalability:

Quality progressive or layer progressive: The bitstream successively refines the reconstructed image.
Resolution progressive: First encode a lower image resolution; then encode the difference to higher resolutions.
Component progressive: First encode grey; then color.

Region of interest coding. Certain parts of the image are encoded with higher quality than others. This can be combined with scalability (encode these parts first, others later).

Meta information. Compressed data can contain information about the image which can be used to categorize, search or browse images. Such information can include color and texture statistics, small preview images and author/copyright information.

The quality of a compression method is often measured by the Peak signal-to-noise ratio. It measures the amount of noise introduced through a lossy compression of the image. However, the subjective judgement of the viewer is also regarded as an important, perhaps the most important measure.