3 ms·

Arithmetic coding is better than Huffman coding because it can use a fractional number of bits per code, while Huffman has to use a whole number of bits. IIRC

Arithmetic coding is better than Huffman coding because it can use a fractional number of bits per code, while Huffman has to use a whole number of bits. IIRC the only reason it wasn't always used for everything is patents. A secondary reason being that it can be slow if you design it without thinking about performance, eg if you use divisions.

gliptic 2y ago
Huffman still has a performance edge for static distributions. ANS bridges some of the performance gap between arithmetic coding and huffman.
- astrange 2y ago
  But there's no such thing as a static distribution :)