Introduction to Data Compression, 4th Edition

Huffman Coding

3.1 Overview

In this chapter we describe a very popular coding algorithm called the Huffman coding algorithm. We first present a procedure for building Huffman codes when the probability model for the source is known, and then we introduce a procedure for building codes when the source statistics are unknown. We also describe a few techniques for code design that are in some sense similar to the Huffman coding approach. Finally, we give some examples of using the Huffman code for image compression, audio compression, and text compression.

3.2 The Huffman Coding Algorithm

This technique was developed by David Huffman as part of a class assignment; the class was the first ever in the area of information theory and was taught by Robert ...