Does Deflate Outperform Huffman Lossless Compression?

Lossless compression is a compression technique used to store data with higher quality compared to its counterpart, lossy compression. This study explores two specific lossless compression techniques to investigate and address the research questions that motivated this experiment. Deflate, an algorithm derived from Huffman and LZ77, is one of the techniques under examination. This algorithm is particularly intriguing due to the amalgamation of the two preceding compression techniques. Consequently, a crucial inquiry arises: does Deflate surpass its original algorithm? In this paper, Huffman and Deflate are compared to analyze whether combining algorithms yields superior or inferior results. The conducted test provides evidence supporting the superiority of Deflate over Huffman. Deflate demonstrates advantages in terms of compression ratio and, notably, compression and decompression speed. However, it is important to note that this case is not conclusively closed, as the experiment can still be extended to include other algorithms. The present paper exclusively focuses on Deflate and does not guarantee that all combination-based algorithms outperform the algorithms they incorporate. Nevertheless, this comparative analysis makes a valuable contribution to the future development of lossless compression techniques. Additionally, it fulfills the objective of understanding the factors that enable an algorithm like Deflate to effectively implement multiple compression techniques.