FLIF: Free lossless image format based on MANIAC compression

We present a novel lossless image compression algorithm. It achieves better compression than popular lossless image formats like PNG and lossless JPEG 2000. Existing image formats have specific strengths and weaknesses: e.g. JPEG works well for photographs, PNG works well for line drawings or images with few distinct colors. For any type of image, our method performs as good or better (on average) than any of the existing image formats for lossless compression. Interlacing is improved compared to PNG, making the format suitable for progressive decoding and responsive web design.