A Comparative Study of Image Compression Algorithms

International Journal of Research in Computer Science
eISSN 2249-8265 Volume 2 Issue 5 (2012) pp. 37-42
www.ijorcs.org, A Unit of White Globe Publications
doi: 10.7815/ijorcs.25.2012.046

1F1F A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF IMAGE COMPRESSION
ALGORITHMS
Kiran Bindu1, Anita Ganpati2, Aman Kumar Sharma3
1
Research Scholar, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla
Email: sharma.kiran95@gmail.com
2
Assistant Professor, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla
Email: anitaganpati@gmail.com
3
Associate Professor, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla
Email: sharmaas1@gmail.com

Abstract: Digital images in their uncompressed form the most widely used compression method [2]. The
require an enormous amount of storage capacity. Such hardware implementation for the JPEG using the DCT
uncompressed data needs large transmission is simple; the noticeable “blocking artifacts” across the
bandwidth for the transmission over the network. block boundaries cannot be neglected at higher
Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is one of the widely compression ratio. In images having gradually shaded
used image compression method and the Discrete areas, the quality of reconstructed images is degraded
Wavelet Transform (DWT) provides substantial by “false Contouring” [3]. In DWT based coding, has
improvements in the quality of picture because of multi ability to display the images at different resolution and
resolution nature. Image compression reduces the also achieves higher compression ratio. The Forward
storage space of image and also maintains the quality Walsh Hadamard Transform (FWHT) is another
information of the image. In this study the performance option for image and video compression applications
of three most widely used techniques namely DCT, which requires less computation as compared to DWT
DWT and Hybrid DCT-DWT are discussed for image and DCT algorithms. In order to benefit from the
compression and their performance is evaluated in respective strengths of individual popular coding
terms of Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Mean scheme, a new scheme, known as hybrid algorithm,
Square Error (MSE) and Compression Ratio (CR). The has been developed where two transform techniques
experimental results obtained from the study shows are implemented together. Yu and Mitra in [4] have
that the Hybrid DCT- DWT technique for image introduced Hybrid transform coding technique.
compression has in general a better performance than Similarly Usama presents a scalable Hybrid scheme
individual DCT or DWT. for image coding which combines both the wavelets
and Fourier transform [5]. In [6], Singh et al. have
Keywords: Compression, DCT, DWT, Hybrid, Image
applied hybrid algorithm to medical images that uses 5
Compression.
- level DWT decomposition. Because of higher level
(5 levels DWT) the scheme requires large
I. INTRODUCTION
computational resources and is not suitable for use in
Compression is a process by which the description modern coding standards. In this section, DCT, DWT
of computerized information is modified so that the and Hybrid DCT-DWT techniques are discussed.
capacity required to store or the bit-rate required to
transmit it is reduced. Compression is carried out for A. Discrete Cosine Transform
the following reasons as to reduce, the storage
A DCT represents the input data points in the form
requirement, processing time and transmission
of sum of cosine functions that are oscillating at
duration. Image compression is minimizing the size in
different frequencies and magnitudes. There are
bytes of a graphics file without degrading the quality
mainly two types of DCT: one dimensional DCT and
of image. Many applications need large number of
two dimensional DCT. The 2D DCT for an N×N input
images for solving problems. Digital images can be

1
sequence can be defined as follows [7]:
𝑁−1 𝑁−1
stored on disk, and storing space of image is important.

𝐷 𝐷𝐶𝑇 (𝑖, 𝑗) = 𝐵(𝑖)𝐵(𝑗) � � 𝑀(𝑥, 𝑦)
√2n
Because less memory space means less time required

𝑥=0 𝑦=0
for processing of image. Image Compression means

. cos � 𝑖𝜋� cos � 𝑗𝜋� (1)
reducing the amount of data required to represent a
2𝑥+1 2𝑦+1
digital image [1].
The joint photographic expert group (JPEG) was 2𝑁 2𝑁
developed in 1992, based on DCT. It has been one of

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𝑖𝑓 𝑢 = 0,
38 Kiran Bindu, Anita Ganpati, Aman Kumar Sharma
1
Where B (u) = �√2
1 if u > 0
filters. We have used the Daubechies filters
coefficients in this study [9]:

M (x,y) is the input data of size x×y. The input
image is first divided into 8×8 blocks; then the 8-point
2-D DCT is performed. The DCT coefficients are then
quantized using an 8×8 quantization table. The
quantization is achieved by dividing each elements of
the transformed original data matrix by corresponding
element in the quantization matrix Q and rounding to
Figure 2: Block diagram of the 2- level DWT scheme

𝐷 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑡 (𝑖, 𝑗) = 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 � �
the nearest integer value as shown in equation (2):-
𝐷 𝐷𝐶𝑇 (𝑖,𝑗)
𝑄(𝑖,𝑗)
(2) C. Hybrid DWT-DCT Algorithm
The objective of the hybrid DWT-DCT algorithm is
After this, compression is achieved by applying to exploit the properties of both DWT and DCT. By
appropriate scaling factor. Then in order to reconstruct giving consideration to the type of application, original
the data, rescaling and de-quantization is performed. image of size 256×256 or any resolution, provided
The de-quantized matrix is then transformed back divisible by 32, is first divided into blocks of N×N.
using the inverse – DCT. The whole procedure is Then each block is decomposed using 2-D DWT. Now
shown in Fig. 1. low frequency coefficients (LL) are passed to the next
stage where the high frequency coefficients (HL, LH,
and HH) are discarded. Then the passed LL
components are further decomposed using another
2_D DWT. The 8-point DCT is applied to the DWT
Coefficients. To achieve a higher compression,
majority of high coefficients can be discarded. To
achieve more compression a JPEG like quantization is
performed. In this stage, many of the higher frequency
components are rounded to zero. The quantized
coefficients are further scaled using scaling factor
(SF). Then the image is reconstructed by following the
inverse procedure. During inverse DWT, zero values
are padded in place of detailed coefficients [10].
Figure 1: Block diagram of the JPEG-based DCT scheme
II. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION PARAMETERS
B. Discrete Wavelet Transform Two popular measures of performance evaluation
In DWT, an image is represented by sum of wavelet are, Peak Signal to noise Ratio (PSNR) and
functions, which are known as wavelets, having Compression Ratio (CR). Which are described below:
different location and scale. Discrete Wavelet
Transform represents the data into a set of high pass A. PSNR
(detail) and low pass (approximate) coefficients. Image It is the most popular tool for the measurement of
is first divided into blocks of 32×32. Then each block the compressed image and video. It is simple to
is passed through two filters: in this the first level, compute. The PSNR in decibel is evaluated as follows

PSNR= 10 log10
decomposition is performed to decompose the input [15]:
𝐼2
data into an approximation and detail coefficients.
MSE
After obtaining the transformed matrix, the detail and (3)
approximate coefficients are separated as LL, HL, LH
and HH coefficients. Then all the coefficients are Where, I is allowable image pixel intensity level.
discarded, except the LL coefficients that are
transformed into the second level. These coefficients MSE is mean squared error. It is another
are then passed through a constant scaling factor to performance evaluation parameter of Image
achieve the desired compression ratio. Following fig. 2 Compression Algorithms. It is an important evaluation
is an illustration of DWT. Here, x[n] is the input parameter for measuring the quality of compressed
signal, d[n] is the high frequency component, and a[n] image. It compares the original data with reconstructed
is the low frequency component. For data data and then results the level of distortion. The MSE
reconstruction, the coefficients are rescaled and between the original data and reconstructed data is:
padded with zeros, and passed through the wavelet

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∑ 𝑖=1 ∑ 𝑗=1(A 𝑖,𝑗 − B 𝑖,𝑗 )2 (4)
A Comparative Study of Image Compression Algorithms 39
1 𝑀 𝑁
𝑀𝑁
MSE = outperforms the PSNR and degree of compression than
wavelet compression method [12].
Where, A = Original image of size M×N Rehna et al. discussed different hybrid approaches
to image compression. Hybrid coding of Images, in
B = Reconstructed image of size M×N this context, deals with combining two or more
traditional approaches to enhance the individual
B. CR methods and achieve better quality reconstructed
It is a measure of the reduction of detail coefficient images with higher compression ratio. They also
of data. reviewed literature on hybrid techniques of image

Discarded Data
coding over the past years. They did a detailed survey
Original Data
CR = on the existing and most significant hybrid methods of
Image coding. And every approach is found to have its
own merits and demerits. They also concluded that
In the process of image compression, it is important good quality reconstructed images are obtained, even
to know how much important coefficient one can at low bit rates when wavelet based hybrid methods
discard from input data in order to preserve critical are applied to image coding. They concluded that the
information of the original data. existing conventional image compression technology
can be developed by combining high performance
III. LITERATURE SURVEY
coding algorithms in appropriate ways, such that the
Anil Kumar et al. in their paper two image advantages of both techniques are fully exploited [13].
compression techniques namely, DCT and DWT are
simulated. They concluded that DWT technique is IV. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
much efficient than DCT in quality and efficiency wise The objective of this research study is to compare
but in performance time wise DCT is better than DWT the performance of three most widely used techniques
[1]. namely DCT, DWT and Hybrid DCT-DWT in terms
Swastik Das et al. presented DWT and DCT of Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Mean Square
transformations with their working. They concluded Error (MSE) and Compression Ratio (CR).
that image compression is of prime importance in Real
time applications like video conferencing where data V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
are transmitted through a channel. Using JPEG To test the performance of Hybrid DCT-DWT with
standard, DCT is used for mapping which reduces the standalone DCT and DWT, researchers implemented
inter pixel redundancies followed by quantization the algorithms in Matlab. To conduct the research
which reduces the psycho visual redundancies then study, various types of images are used namely,
coding redundancy is reduced by the use of optimal natural images and medical images. Images are used to
code word having minimum average length. In JPEG verify the efficiency of Hybrid DCT-DWT algorithm
2000 standard of image compression DWT is used for and are compared with standalone DCT and DWT
mapping, all other methods remaining same. They algorithm. Images in raw form are difficult to obtain
analysed that DWT is more general and efficient than hence already compressed medical images downloaded
DCT [11]. from “www.gastrolab.net” in JPEG format is
Rupinder Kaur et al. outline the comparison of considered for analysis. The following figures show
compression methods such as RLE (Run Length the result of image compression by DCT, DWT and
Encoding), JPEG 2000, Wavelet Transform, SPIHT Hybrid DCT-DWT respectively.
(Set Partition in Hierarchical Trees) on the basis of
compression ratio and compression quality. The
comparison of these compression methods are
classified according to different medical images on the
basis of compression ratio and compression quality.
Their results illustrate that they can achieve higher
compression ratio for MRI, Ultrasound, CT scan and
iris images by SPIHT method. Furthermore they also
observe that for MRI image wavelet compression
method has higher compression ratio and has good
PSNR value for iris image than JPEG method.
Compression ratio is almost same of iris and MRI
image. For CT scan image JPEG compression method Figure 3: Loading of an original image

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Figure 4: DCT image after processing

Figure 5: DWT image after processing

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A Comparative Study of Image Compression Algorithms 41

Figure 6: Hybrid DWT-DCT image after processing

Following figure 7 shows the PSNR values 100
(measured in decibel) of five compressed images for
average compression ratio of 96% by DWT, DCT and 99.5
Hybrid DCT-DWT techniques respectively.
99
98.5
CR (%)

40
35 98
30 97.5
25
PSNR (db)

97
20
96.5
15
1 2 3 4 5
10 Images
5
0 DWT DCT Hybrid
1 2 3 4 5
Images Figure 8: CR of images for average PSNR of 32 db

DWT DCT Hybrid
VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE

Figure 7: PSNR of images for average compression ratio of It is observed from the results that the Hybrid DCT-
96% DWT algorithm for image compression has better
performance as compared to the other standalone
Similarly, figure 8 shows the compression ratio of techniques, namely DWT and DCT. The performance
images for average PSNR of 32 db, when compressed comparison is done by considering the performance
by DWT, DCT and Hybrid DCT-DWT techniques. criteria i.e. PSNR, MSE and Compression Ratio. By
comparing the performances of these techniques using

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the above mentioned parameters and JPEG image International Conference on Information Science,
format, we found the various deficiencies and Signal Processing and their Applications (ISSPA 2010).
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technique is more efficient by quality wise than DCT Compression using Discrete Cosine Transform and
Discrete Wavelet Transform”, B.Tech. Dissertation,
and by performance wise DCT is much better than
NIT, Rourkela, 2009.
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is much better than the others. On the basis of the of various Compression Methods for Medical Images”.
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researchers will either be able to design a new Research, Panjab University Chandigarh.
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How to cite
Kiran Bindu, Anita Ganpati, Aman Kumar Sharma, "A Comparative Study of Image Compression Algorithms".
International Journal of Research in Computer Science, 2 (5): pp. 37-42, September 2012.
doi:10.7815/ijorcs.25.2012.046

www.ijorcs.org

A Comparative Study of Image Compression Algorithms

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