Lossless compression: the Rice alternative to JPEG

Donald J. Healy

doi:10.1117/12.330200

5 November 1998 Lossless compression: the Rice alternative to JPEG

Donald J. Healy

Proceedings Volume 3431, Airborne Reconnaissance XXII; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.330200
Event: SPIE's International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1998, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

This paper describes a remarkable but relatively unknown algorithm invented by Robert Rice of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab for lossless compression of imagery and other scientific data collected by spaceborne sensors. Its state-of-the-art performance is compared to the more well known lossless JPEG compression algorithm. Since lossless algorithms by definition produce perfectly reconstructed imagery, performance comparisons are based on the amount of compression each algorithm achieves. The JPEG algorithm uses Huffman tables. For optical performance the HUffman table used by JPEG must be custom-designed based on the statistics of the image being coded. The Rice algorithm which uses no tables is shown to produce compression results comparable to JPEG with custom Huffman tables. Implementation of the Rice algorithm which requires only one pass is shown to be simpler than the implementation of custom lossless JPEG which requires two passes through the image data. The effects of channel errors on Rice-encoded imagery are analyzed, revealing a probably unintentional tendency toward self-correction of some errors.

Citation Download Citation

Donald J. Healy "Lossless compression: the Rice alternative to JPEG", Proc. SPIE 3431, Airborne Reconnaissance XXII, (5 November 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.330200

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available