Lossless image coding

Image compression serves the purpose of reducing bandwidth or storage requirement in image applications. Lossy image compression is widely deployed, e.g., using the classic JPEG standard [21]. This standard also has a less-known lossless version. Lossless compression has the advantage of avoiding the issue whether the coding quality is sufficient. In critical applications, lossless coding may be mandatory. This includes applications where further processing is applied to the images. Examples are medical imaging, remote sensing, and space applications, where scientific fidelity is of paramount importance. In other areas such as prepress and film production, it is the visual fidelity after further processing which is of concern.