IMAGE COMPRESSION METHODS BASED ON TRANSFORM CODING AND FRACTAL CODING

Image compression is process to remove the redundant information from the image so that only essential information can be stored to reduce the storage size, transmission bandwidth and transmission time. The essential information is extracted by various transforms techniques such that it can be reconstructed without losing quality and information of the image. In this research comparative analysis of image compression is done by four transform method, which are Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), Discrete Wavelet Transform( DWT) & Hybrid (DCT+DWT) Transform and fractal coding. MATLAB programs were written for each of the above method and concluded based on the results obtained that hybrid DWT-DCT algorithm performs much better than the standalone JPEG-based DCT, DWT algorithms in terms of peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), as well as visual perception at higher compression ratio. The popular JPEG standard is widely used in digital cameras and web based image delivery. The wavelet transform, which is part of the new JPEG 2000 standard, claims to minimize some of the visually distracting artifacts that can appear in JPEG images. For one thing, it uses much larger blocks- selectable, but typically 1024 x 1024 pixels for compression, rather than the 8 X 8 pixel blocks used in the original JPEG method, which often produced visible boundaries. Fractal compression has also shown promise and claims to be able to enlarge images by inserting realistic detail beyond the resolution limit of the original.