JANUARY TUTOR ■

JPEG2000

millennium
jpeg
Su r fing the Web will never be the same again. Wavelet compression is set to ch a n g e
the way we view, transmit and edit images. Used in the new JPEG2000 st a n d a rd ,
this technology shrinks image data to a fraction of its original size – and enables
f a st decompression without loss. Here are the facts .

igh quality images are essential in

H a modern Web site. Transmitting

a page-sized image, however, eats
up vastly more bandwidth than
transmitting a page of text. Most popular
image formats include some form of built-
in compression, but the algorithms they
use don’t provide a good looking image and
high levels of compression at the same
time. Wavelet compression will change all
that; Web-based images will download
faster and look better.
The JPEG2000 standard, which should
be finalised by the time you read this, uses
wavelet compression. You don’t have to
wait for J P E G2000-based products to
appear, though. You can take advantage
of wavelet compression right now, in prod-
ucts such as LuraWave and LuraDocument
from LuraTech (www.luratech.com) and
MrSID from LizardTech (www.lizardtech
Figure 1: The left JPEG image was stored at 20 per-
cent compression, the right image at 95 percent.

82 January 2001 www.DITnet.co.ae ■ www.PCmag-mideast.com

 ■ JANUARY TUTOR
JPEG2000

.com). This article will explain what’s spe-

cial about wavelet compression, starting
with a look at the alternatives.

A DATA COMPRESSION PRIMER

A data compression algorithm is a tech-
nique for reducing the number of bytes
required to store or transmit data. If the
algorithm is lossless, decompressing a com-
pressed file will yield a result that is iden-
tical to the original. This type of compres-
sion is used when every bit and byte of
data is essential – for example, in com-
pressing executable programs, or text. You
wouldn’t want the compressed message
“You must not press the red button” to be
decompressed as “You must now press the
red button”!
Strangely enough, if a lossless compres-
sion algorithm makes even one type of file
smaller, then there will be at least one type
of file the algorithm would actually make
larger, a fact that can be proven mathe-
matically. That being the case, the goal in
designing lossless compression algorithms
is to ensure that common file types such as
documents, programs and images are
among those that do become smaller. The
popular ZIP file format uses a lossless com-
pression algorithm. As you might expect,
files that have already been compressed
become larger when the same lossless com-
pression algorithm is applied again.
A lossy compression algorithm discards
less important details from its input, both to
reduce the total amount of data stored and
to put the remaining data into a form that
can easily be compressed further. When
you compress a file using lossy compression
and then decompress it, the result will be with large blocky areas of the same colour, Experts Group. JPEG uses a lossy com-
very similar to the original but will not be but an image with few runs of adjacent pression algorithm that can be adjusted by
identical. Lossy algorithms are typically identically colored pixels will be larger after the user, trading increased compression for
used for compressing images. There’s a processing. Thus RLE is worse than useless decreased faithfulness to the original. (There
limit to the amount of detail the human for compressing digital photographs. is also a lossless JPEG format, but its best
eye can take in, so if the lossy algorithm is The popular GIF (Graphics Interchange compression ratio is about 2:1 – too low to
designed correctly there should be no per- Format) image format uses the lossless Lem- be interesting.) The JPEGcompression algo-
ceptible difference between the decom- pel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) algorithm. LZW com- rithm divides an image into small squares
pressed image and the original. The wild- pression works by constructing a dictio- for processing, and at high compression
ly popular MP3 format for audio also uses nary – a list of repeating patterns in the levels these squares can become visible as
a lossy compression algorithm. input data. Each occurrence of a pattern is ugly artifacts. Figure 1 shows the result of
Standard Windows bitmaps (BMP files) replaced by the corresponding code from storing the same 160x240-pixel image of a
tend to be extremely large, as they must the dictionary. LZW can decompress a data garden spider at 20 percent compression
store from 0.5 to 3 bytes for every single stream in one pass, thus lending itself to and at 95 percent compression. The left
p i xe l o f t h e im ag e. Fo r ex a mpl e , a progressive display, which allows an image hand image is about 10K, and the right
1,024x768-pixel BMP image using 24-bit to display before receipt of all the image hand image is about 2K – but the right hand
colour occupies over 2MB. Even the ancient data. GIF images are limited to 8-bit colour, image looks dreadful. The background has
BMP file format includes an option for built- however, and the best digital photographs degenerated into square blocks and the
in compression, a straightforward lossless use 24-bit colour. The PNG (Portable Net- spiderwebs no longer look like spiderwebs.
scheme called Run-Length Encoding (RLE). work Graphics) format is similar to GIF but Note that this same image stored as a Win-
RLE is defined only for 16-colour and 256- avoids use of the patented LZW algorithm. dows bitmap would require over 110K.
colour images. If you have, for example, a JPEG’s image compression has its roots in
run of 80 red pixels in a row, you just store THE JPEG IMAGE FORMAT the work of the scientist and mathematician
the colour (red) and the length of the run The JPEG image format is named for the Joseph Fourier. In the early 1800s, he
(80). This works well for simple images group that devised it, the Joint Photographic demonstrated that any periodic function

www.DITnet.co.ae ■ www.PCmag-mideast.com January 2001 83

JANUARY TUTOR ■
Figure 2: A Web-based wavelet-compressed image appears quickly, then gradually gains clarity.
(think of the squiggly waves on an oscillo-
scope) could be expressed as the sum of a
series of sine and cosine functions with
particular parameters. The procedure that
renders a periodic function into such a
series is called a Fourier transform, and is
useful for enabling scientists to see pat-
terns in the transformed data that weren’t
evident in the raw data.
The Fourier transform applies to mathe-
matical functions, not to digital images, but
a related transformation called a discrete
cosine transform (DCT) can be used on
non-continuous data. A DCT transforms an
array of data into a set of parameters that
can be used to re-create the original data
precisely. JPEG compression breaks an
image into 8x8-pixel blocks and applies
the DCT to the pixel colours in each block.
There’s no loss of data at this point, but
there’s no compression, either.
The JPEG algorithm reduces the space
required to store the image by quantising
the output of the DCT – dividing the para-
meters by specific values and rounding the
result to the nearest integer. This step
reduces many of the parameters to zero.
Also, there are fewer distinct values, which
makes the data stream more easily com-
pressible. Some data is lost, but the quan-
tising step is designed to minimise the visu-
al effect of that loss. The resulting data
stream is compressed again, using a lossless
algorithm that assigns the smallest codes to
the most common bit patterns.
WAVELET COMPRESSION
Wavelet analysis has been around for almost
100 years. As with Fourier analysis, scien-
tists use wavelet analysis to find patterns in
data. The technique has been used to clean
up “noisy” statistical and audio data, includ-
ing an antiquated recording of composer
Johannes Brahms playing part of his own
Hungarian Dance No. 1. Wavelet analysis
has applications in mathematics, quantum
physics, electrical engineering and seis-
mology, among other fields. As it happens,
84 January 2001
JPEG2000
applying the right wavelet transformation
to a photographic image can yield excellent
compression without the blocky artifacts
found in highly compressed JPEG images.
The biggest diff e rence between the
wavelet transformation and the direct cosine
t r a n s f o rm used in J P E G c o m p re s s i o n
involves scale. The DCT is always applied
to 8 by 8 squares. In contrast, the wavelet
t r a n s f o rmation is applied to the whole
image repeatedly at different scales. The
wavelet functions alternately record and
remove detail from the image. Most wavelet
functions are too complex to describe eas-
ily, but the Haar wavelet, one of the first
invented, can be approximated in a simple
description:
1. Reduce the image to half its width
and height by averaging the colours of
each 2 by 2 block of pixels into a
single pixel.
2. Record the differences between the
original pixels and the averaged pixel
that replaced them (this will often be
zero or close to zero).
3. Repeat until the image is reduced
to a specified minimum size.
4. Store the minimum size image.
5. Store the sets of difference infor-
mation in reverse order.
At each stage in this process, the image
detail is removed by averaging adjacent
pixels, and recorded by storing the differ-
ences. The resulting data stream includes
many zeroes, representing pixels that are
the same colour as their neighbors. Now,
as with original JPEG, a lossless compres-
sion algorithm that works well with such a
data stream is applied. Additional com-
pression can be gained, at the expense of
faithfulness to the original, by taking val-
ues near zero and changing them to zero.
Visually important elements like edges
won’t be affected, because there the dif-
ferences are large.
www.DITnet.co.ae
In simple terms, this is how such an image
would be decompressed:
1. Display the stored minimum size
image, but stretched to the final full
width and height. The image will look
quite fuzzy.
2. Repeatedly apply the sets of
differences, doubling the image’s
clarity at each step.
Figure 2 shows an enlarged view of four
stages in the process of decompressing a
simple, 32x32-pixel gray scale image of a
five-pointed star. The image at left is
stretched from just 4 by 4 pixels and does-
n’t show much detail. When the first set of
differences is applied, the next image is the
result; this is effectively an 8x8-pixel image.
Applying the next set of differences yields
the third image, which is much clearer. Final-
ly, the last set of differences restores the
original 32x32-pixel image, the rightmost
in the figure.
In the real world of wavelet compression,
functions much more complex than the
Haar wavelet are used. Still, this approxi-
mation should illustrate the principles
behind wavelet compression.
Wavelet compression is extremely well
suited to Web-based images. The moment
the minimum size image has been received,
a fuzzy picture can be displayed. As the rest
of the data stream arrives, the picture gets
steadily clearer. Also, there’s no need to
maintain copies of the image at different
sizes. To obtain a half-size image, you sim-
ply begin the display process at half the
original size and omit the final set of differ-
ences. No doubt about it, wavelet com-
pression is going to improve your browsing
experience; you’ll see better pictures on the
Web, and they’ll appear faster than ever.
Visit www.lizardtech.com or www.lurate-
ch.com for currently available examples, or
wait a little while longer for products imple-
menting JPEG2000.
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