The key problem in fractal image compression is that of obtaining the IFS code (a set of linear transformations) which approximates a given image with a certain prescribed accuracy (inverse IFS problem). In this paper, we analyze and compare the performance of sharing and crowding niching techniques for identifying optimal selfsimilar transformations likely to represent a selfsimilar area within the image. The best results are found using the deterministic crowding method. We also present an interactive Matlab program implementing the algorithms described in the paperI Workshop de Agentes y Sistemas Inteligentes (WASI)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI
