Piecewise integer mapping for arithmetic coding

Abstract

A binary statistical coder, called the Z-Coder, that can be used wherever adaptive (or non-adaptive entropy) coding of binary symbols is required is presented. The compression performance of the coder is better than that of existing arithmetic coders. Because of the coder's derivation as a generalization of the Golomb coder, it is also extremely fast and approximate arithmetic coding. In addition, the Z-Coder's probability estimation is more flexible and faster than that of other arithmetic coders.