Adaptive downsampling to improve image compression at low bit rates

At low bit rates, better coding quality can be achieved by downsampling the image prior to compression and estimating the missing portion after decompression. This paper presents a new algorithm in such a paradigm, based on the adaptive decision of appropriate downsampling directions/ratios and quantization steps, in order to achieve higher coding quality with low bit rates with the consideration of local visual significance. The full-resolution image can be restored from the DCT coefficients of the downsampled pixels so that the spatial interpolation required otherwise is avoided. The proposed algorithm significantly raises the critical bit rate to approximately 1.2 bpp, from 0.15-0.41 bpp in the existing downsample-prior-to-JPEG schemes and, therefore, outperforms the standard JPEG method in a much wider bit-rate scope. The experiments have demonstrated better PSNR improvement over the existing techniques before the critical bit rate. In addition, the adaptive mode decision not only makes the critical bit rate less image-independent, but also automates the switching coders in variable bit-rate applications, since the algorithm turns to the standard JPEG method whenever it is necessary at higher bit rates.