Video Compression

Algorithms
What is data compression?


In computer science and information theory, data
compression or source coding is the process of
encoding information using fewer bits than
an un-encoded representation would use,
through use of specific encoding schemes.
Why is it necessary?

At any given time, the ability of the Internet to
transfer data is fixed which is the Internets
collective bandwidth.
Thus, if data can effectively be compressed
wherever possible, significant improvements of
data throughput can be achieved.
In some instances, file sizes can be reduced by
up to 60-70 %.

Video Compression
Compression can be either lossy or lossless.

1. Lossy compression reduces bits by identifying
unnecessary information and removing it.

Example- JPEG , MPEG, MP3

1. Lossless compression reduces bits by identifying
and eliminating statistical redundancy. No
information is lost in lossless compression.
Example- PNG,GIF

Compression Algorithms


DCT (discrete cosine transform)
Fractal compression
Wavelet transform
DCT (discrete cosine transform)

DCT is a common compression technique in which data
is represented as a series of cosine waves. In the case
of video, this technique replaces continuous sampling
with an equation that represents the data. In the case
of a still image, 8 8 blocks of information are
converted into a wave that describes the number of
color shifts and the extent of change in those color
shifts.


Fractal compression

It is to break an image down into smaller and smaller
tiles. The compression engine (a dedicated board)
searches for matching patterns in the image using a
mathematical transformation that manipulates tiles in
various ways. Repetitive patterns are saved to
reconstruct the original, and unmatched data that is
considered unimportant is discarded.

Wavelet transform

When using a wavelet transform to describe an image, an average of the
coefficients-in this case, pixels-is taken. Then the detail coefficients are
calculated. Another average is taken, and more detail coefficients are
calculated. This process continues until the image is completely described or
the level of detail necessary to represent the image is achieved. As more
detail coefficients are described, the image becomes clearer and less blocky.
Once the wavelet transform is complete, a picture can be displayed at any
resolution by recursively adding and subtracting the detail coefficients from
a lower-resolution version. This technique is used by Iterated Systems.

Process of compression
Video compression is the practice of reducing the size of
video files while maintaining as much of the original
quality as possible.
To accomplish this, an application known as a codec
analyses the video frame by frame, and breaks each
frame down into square blocks known as macroblocks.
Typically, the codec then analyses each frame, checking
for changes in the macroblocks.


What is a codec?
A codec is a device / computer program capable
of encoding or decoding a digital data
stream or signal.

A codec encodes a data stream or signal for
transmission, storage or encryption, or decodes
it for playback or editing.


The decoding process consists of performing, to the
extent possible, an inversion of each stage of the
encoding process. The one stage that cannot be
exactly inverted is the quantization stage. There, a
best-effort approximation of inversion is performed.
This part of the process is often called "inverse
quantization" or "de-quantization.

This process involves representing the video image as
a set of macroblocks.

How does a codec work?

The common first step in image compression in
codec design is to represent and store the
image in a YCbCr color space.

The conversion to YCbCr provides two benefits:
first, it improves compressibility by de-
correlation of the color signals; and second,
it separates the luma signal (perceptually
more important), from the chroma signal
(which is less perceptually important and which
can be represented at lower resolution to achieve
efficient data compression).
Some amount of spatial and
temporal downsampling may also be used to
reduce the raw data rate before the basic
encoding process. The most popular such
transform is the 8x8 discrete cosine
transform (DCT).
Codecs which make use of a wavelet transform
are also entering the market, especially in
camera workflows which involve dealing
with RAW image formatting in motion sequences.
The output of the transform is first quantized,
then entropy encoding is applied to the
quantized values.

Future aspects


New alternatives to traditional systems (which
sample at full resolution, then compress) provide
efficient resource usage based on principles
of compressed sensing.

Compressed sensing techniques circumvent the
need for data compression by sampling off on a
cleverly selected basis.