File Compression Using Huffman Coding with Various Bit Lengths

School Name

Governor's School for Science & Mathematics

Grade Level

12th Grade

Presentation Topic

Computer Science

Presentation Type

Mentored

Mentor

Mentor: William Thacker, Winthrop University

Abstract

One of the earliest and most widely used types of file compression is known as Huffman Coding. It compresses files by assigning short binary values to the most frequent groups of eight bits in the file, and becomes more efficient as the frequencies of these groups becomes less uniform. This research aimed to use groups of bits of lengths other than eight in Huffman Coding. Compression ratios were calculated for the compressed file in relation to the original file. This was done in order to determine which bit length had the best compression for text files, image files, and executables. In general, text files compressed most efficiently at multiples of eight bits; image file compression varied based on image content rather than on bit length, but in general did not compress well at lengths less than or equal to eight bits; and executables compressed most efficiently at eight bits.

Location

Wall 119

Start Date

3-25-2017 9:45 AM

Presentation Format

Oral and Written

Group Project

No

COinS
 
Mar 25th, 9:45 AM

File Compression Using Huffman Coding with Various Bit Lengths

Wall 119

One of the earliest and most widely used types of file compression is known as Huffman Coding. It compresses files by assigning short binary values to the most frequent groups of eight bits in the file, and becomes more efficient as the frequencies of these groups becomes less uniform. This research aimed to use groups of bits of lengths other than eight in Huffman Coding. Compression ratios were calculated for the compressed file in relation to the original file. This was done in order to determine which bit length had the best compression for text files, image files, and executables. In general, text files compressed most efficiently at multiples of eight bits; image file compression varied based on image content rather than on bit length, but in general did not compress well at lengths less than or equal to eight bits; and executables compressed most efficiently at eight bits.