Lempel-Ziv Compression Techniques
• Classification of Lossless Compression techniques
• Introduction to Lempel-Ziv Encoding: LZ77 & LZ78
• LZ78 Encoding Algorithm
• LZ78 Decoding Algorithm
Classification of Lossless Compression Techniques
Recall what we studied before:
• Lossless Compression techniques are classified into static, adaptive (or dynamic), and
hybrid.
• Static coding requires two passes: one pass to compute probabilities
(or frequencies) and determine the mapping, and a second pass to encode.
• Examples of Static techniques: Static Huffman Coding
• All of the adaptive methods are one-pass methods; only one scan of the
message is required.
• Examples of adaptive techniques: LZ77, LZ78, LZW, and Adaptive
Huffman Coding
Introduction to Lempel-Ziv Encoding
• Data compression up until the late 1970's mainly directed towards creating
better methodologies for Huffman coding.
• An innovative, radically different method was introduced in1977 by
Abraham Lempel and Jacob Ziv.
• This technique (called Lempel-Ziv) actually consists of two considerably
different algorithms, LZ77 and LZ78.
• Due to patents, LZ77 and LZ78 led to many variants:
LZ77 LZR LZSS LZB LZH
Variants
LZ78 LZW LZC LZT LZMW LZJ LZFG
Variants
• The zip and unzip use the LZH technique while UNIX's compress
methods belong to the LZW and LZC classes.
LZ78 Compression Algorithm
LZ78 inserts one- or multi-character, non-overlapping, distinct patterns of
the message to be encoded in a Dictionary.
The multi-character patterns are of the form: C0C1 . . . Cn-1Cn. The prefix of
a pattern consists of all the pattern characters except the last: C0C1 . . . Cn-1
LZ78 Output:
Note: The dictionary is usually implemented as a hash table.
Example 1: LZ78 Compression
Encode (i.e., compress) the string ABBCBCABABCAABCAAB using the LZ78 algorithm.
The compressed message is: (0,A)(0,B)(2,C)(3,A)(2,A)(4,A)(6,B)
Note: The above is just a representation, the commas and parentheses are not transmitted;
we will discuss the actual form of the compressed message later on in slide 12.
Example 1: LZ78 Compression (cont’d)
1. A is not in the Dictionary; insert it
2. B is not in the Dictionary; insert it
3. B is in the Dictionary.
BC is not in the Dictionary; insert it.
4. B is in the Dictionary.
BC is in the Dictionary.
BCA is not in the Dictionary; insert it.
5. B is in the Dictionary.
BA is not in the Dictionary; insert it.
6. B is in the Dictionary.
BC is in the Dictionary.
BCA is in the Dictionary.
BCAA is not in the Dictionary; insert it.
7. B is in the Dictionary.
BC is in the Dictionary.
BCA is in the Dictionary.
BCAA is in the Dictionary.
BCAAB is not in the Dictionary; insert it.
Example 2: LZ78 Compression
Encode (i.e., compress) the string BABAABRRRA using the LZ78 algorithm.
The compressed message is: (0,B)(0,A)(1,A)(2,B)(0,R)(5,R)(2, )
Example 2: LZ78 Compression (cont’d)
1. B is not in the Dictionary; insert it
2. A is not in the Dictionary; insert it
3. B is in the Dictionary.
BA is not in the Dictionary; insert it.
4. A is in the Dictionary.
AB is not in the Dictionary; insert it.
5. R is not in the Dictionary; insert it.
6. R is in the Dictionary.
RR is not in the Dictionary; insert it.
7. A is in the Dictionary and it is the last input character; output a pair
containing its index: (2, )
Example 3: LZ78 Compression
Encode (i.e., compress) the string AAAAAAAAA using the LZ78 algorithm.
1. A is not in the Dictionary; insert it
2. A is in the Dictionary
AA is not in the Dictionary; insert it
3. A is in the Dictionary.
AA is in the Dictionary.
AAA is not in the Dictionary; insert it.
4. A is in the Dictionary.
AA is in the Dictionary.
AAA is in the Dictionary and it is the last pattern; output a pair containing its index:
(3, )
LZ78 Compression: Number of bits transmitted
• Example: Uncompressed String: ABBCBCABABCAABCAAB
Number of bits = Total number of characters * 8
= 18 * 8
= 144 bits
• Suppose the codewords are indexed starting from 1:
Compressed string( codewords): (0, A) (0, B) (2, C) (3, A) (2, A) (4, A) (6, B)
Codeword index 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
• Each code word consists of an integer and a character:
• The character is represented by 8 bits.
• The number of bits n required to represent the integer part of the codeword with
index i is given by:
• Alternatively number of bits required to represent the integer part of the codeword
with index i is the number of significant bits required to represent the integer i – 1
LZ78 Compression: Number of bits transmitted (cont’d)
Codeword (0, A) (0, B) (2, C) (3, A) (2, A) (4, A) (6, B)
index 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Bits: (1 + 8) + (1 + 8) + (2 + 8) + (2 + 8) + (3 + 8) + (3 + 8) + (3 + 8) = 71 bits
The actual compressed message is: 0A0B10C11A010A100A110B
where each character is replaced by its binary 8-bit ASCII code.
Example 1: LZ78 Decompression
Decode (i.e., decompress) the sequence (0, A) (0, B) (2, C) (3, A) (2, A) (4, A) (6, B)
The decompressed message is: ABBCBCABABCAABCAAB
Example 2: LZ78 Decompression
Decode (i.e., decompress) the sequence (0, B) (0, A) (1, A) (2, B) (0, R) (5, R) (2, )
The decompressed message is: BABAABRRRA
Example 3: LZ78 Decompression
Decode (i.e., decompress) the sequence (0, A) (1, A) (2, A) (3, )
The decompressed message is: AAAAAAAAA
Exercises
1. Use LZ78 to trace encoding the string
SATATASACITASA.
