Image Compression using Discrete Cosine Transform & Discrete Wavelet Transform

Image Compression addresses the problem of reducing the amount of data required to represent the digital image. Compression is achieved by the removal of one or more of three basic data redundancies: (1) Coding redundancy, which is present when less than optimal (i.e. the smallest length) code words are used; (2) Interpixel redundancy, which results from correlations between the pixels of an image & (3) psycho visual redundancy which is due to data that is ignored by the human visual system (i.e. visually nonessential information). Huffman codes contain the smallest possible number of code symbols (e.g., bits) per source symbol (e.g., grey level value) subject to the constraint that the source symbols are coded one at a time. So, Huffman coding when combined with technique of reducing the image redundancies using Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) helps in compressing the image data to a very good extent. The Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is an example of transform coding. The current JPEG standard uses the DCT as its basis. The DC relocates the highest energies to the upper left corner of the image. The lesser energy or information is relocated into other areas. The DCT is fast. It can be quickly calculated and is best for images with smooth edges like photos with human subjects. The DCT coefficients are all real numbers unlike the Fourier Transform. The Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform (IDCT) can be used to retrieve the image from its transform representation. The Discrete wavelet transform (DWT) has gained widespread acceptance in signal processing and image compression. Because of their inherent multi-resolution nature, wavelet-coding schemes are especially suitable for applications where scalability and tolerable degradation are important. Recently the JPEG committee has released its new image coding standard, JPEG-2000, which has been based upon DWT