The 11th International Conference on Information Sciences, Signal Processing and their Applications: Special Sessions

Efficiency Evaluation of Different Wavelets for Image Compression

Salam Benchikh, Michael Corinthios, Life Fellow, IEEE

Department of Electrical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal,Montreal, Qc, Canada

Abstract-In this paper, application to image processing and

image compression using the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) 2. DISCRETE WAVELETS TRANSFORM (DWT)
is presented. We show the impact of the spectral distribution of Discrete wavelets transform has been used in many digital
the images on the quality of the image compression technique. signals processing application and specifically in data
Four families of wavelets are considered: 1) Bi-orthogonal, 2) compression. DWT transform technique IS described
Daubechies, 3) Coiflet and 4) Symlet. Since the good basis in [1],[2],[4],[5].
wavelet recommended for DWT compressor may depend on the
choice of test images, we consider three test images with 3. COMPRESSION METHODOLOGY
different but moderate spectral activities. We then evaluate the
Our goal is to achieve after image compression, a high
performance of the four wavelets families on each test image. A
quality of reconstruction and a low distortion level. First of all, a
comparative results for several wavelets used in DWT
DWT algorithm is performed. To have a good resolution with
compression techniques are presented using the peak signal to
DWT algorithm, we choose a number of iteration equal to 3 and
noise ratio (PSNR) and compression ratio (CR) as a measure of
we fix a threshold to improve the DWT compression.
quality. Finally, we present the comparative result according to
PSNR versus CR for four families of wavelets, showing that For the performance of the DWT coder, the selection of wavelet
bior4.4 yields a better performance than the other Wavelets in is important. In the following, we explain how to choose mother
terms of tradeoff between PSNR and CR. wavelets.

3.1. Choice of Mother Wavelet

1. INTRODUCTION
The choice of wavelet, to be used in DWT compression
The wavelet transform (DWT) was introduced to overcome the algorithm, should be adjusted to the information on the
problem of non-stationary signals. When applying the DWT on image [6]-[8]. The properties to choose the mother wavelet are:
an image, the transformation is applied to the whole image, not Compact support, symmetry, orthogonality and regularity [6].
on the blocks of image; therefore, there will be no effect of
3.2. Choice of Test Images
blocks in the reconstruction of image [1]-[3]. So instead of
representing a signal as the weighted sum of sinusoids as it is the Since the good basis wavelet recommended for DWT
case of the Fourier transform, we have the weighted summation compressor depends on the choice of test images, we use DCT
of waves translated and dilated in time O. The selection of technique to evaluate the variation of spectral activity in the
mother wavelet determines the representation of the signal or the image. Note that an image with high spectral activity is not
image. This transform is the basis of JPEG2000 sensitive to the choice of wavelets [6]-[8]. According to Fig. I
standard [4], [5]. (b), Fig 2 (b) and Fig 3 (b) the energy of the three images is
The best wavelet basis recommended for encoding depends concentrated in the top at the left comer.
on the specific images to be encoded [2], [6]. The DWT image 3.3. Performance Evaluations
compression algorithms choose the mother wavelet from a
From several images we have chosen three with different
library or by making a comparison on a few wavelets [7]. There
sp�ctral activities and of different size to evaluate the
has been some study in the literature for comparing the
pefformance of DWT compression: Rami (Fig. 1 a), Rachis­
efficiency of the wavelet families for image compression. For
cervical (Fig. 2 a) and Lena (Fig. 3 a) of size 841x841, 400x474
example, in [6], four wavelets families have been used for the
and SI2xS12 respectively. All of those images are with gray
study, Bi-orthogonal, Haar, Daubechies and Coiflet wavelets.
level.
In [8], Daubechies, Coiflet and other wavelets are used for
To evaluate the efficiency of DWT compression, several
assessment. In [9], only two wavelets were used, Coif! from
wavelets has been used with different orders, namely: Bior2.2,
Coiflet wavelets and Db3 from Daubechies wavelets. In the
Bior3.3, Bior4.4, BiorS.S, Bior6.8, Db2, Db3, Db4, Db5, Db6,
JPEG2000 standard, two wavelets are used Daubechies wavelet
Db7, Db8, Db9, Dbl0, Sym2, Sym3, Sym4, SymS, Sym6,
(9.7) for lossy compression and wavelet LeGall (S.3) for lossless
Sym7, Sym8, Coif!, Coif2, Coif3, Coif4, CoifS, which are all
compression [5].
compactly supported.
However, in each wavelets family, different types of wavelets
can be considered, therefore, it is important to study which type
of wavelets and which wavelets family provides a better
performance for image compression. Yet to the best of our
knowledge, such a study is not currently available in the
literature. The main contributions of this paper are as follows. I)
Four wavelets families each with different orders (overall 26 b
•
wavelets) are studied and compared with respect to the average Fig. 1 a) image test Rami, b) OCT Rami
PSNR and compression ratio. 2) In each family, a wavelet which
provides the best performance is found, according to the
considered images. 3) Among four wavelets families, we show
that for a good trade-off between PSNR and compression ratio,
we should choose the Bior4.4 or Coif2.
In this paper, we emphasize on how we can obtain a better
quality and a better compression ratio by selecting a suitable
b
wavelet.
Fig. 2: a) image test Rachis_cervical, b) DCT Rachis_cervical.

978-1-4673-0382-8/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE 1420

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Fig. 3: a) image test Lena, b) DCT Lena.

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To evaluate the quality of image compression technique, we Compresskln Rate (%)

use two classical metrics, namely, objective and subjective

a b
evaluations. A commonly used objective metric is Peak Signal to
Noise Ratio (PSNR) that characterizes the distortion in a lossy
55

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Sym7
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compression [2], [4]. Sym

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4. COMPARATIVE RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS '" Sym2---···· ..
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In the following, we present numerical results to evaluate and Sym4
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compare the considered compression techniques. We present the __ Rachis eer
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summary of the trade-off between PSNR and CR results in Fig. 4 3�-=����--��
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for each wavelet filmily, separately. We compare the PSNR of
three images compressed by Bi-orthogonal, Daubechies, Symlet c
and Coiflet wavelets, respectively, in Fig. 4 (a), (b), (c), and (d), Fig. 4: a) Three images compressed by Biorthogonal wavelets, b) Three
versus CR images compressed by Daubechies wavelets, c) Three images
As shown in Fig. 4 (a), the bior4.4 yields the best trade-off compressed by Symlet wavelets, d) Three images compressed by Coiflet
between PSNR and CR in Bi-orthogonal family. As indicated in wavelets.
Fig. 4 (b), Db2 wavelet provides the best PSNR while the
wavelet Db3 gives a good compression ratio in the Daubechies
wavelets family. In Fig. 4 (c), it is shown that Sym2 wavelet
provides a better PSNR than Sym4 wavelet. Also Sym4 wavelet
presents an acceptable CR for our test images. Finally, Fig. 4
(d), shows that in Coiflet family, Coif2 wavelet presents the best
trade-off between PSNR and CR.
Fig. 5 presents the reconstructed Lena image using the best
wavelet in DWT algorithm in each wavelets family, Bior4.4, a b
Db2, Sym4 and Coifl. As shown, all the reconstructed images
have very high quality and are similar to the original one, but
bio4.4 wavelet yields the best trade-off between PSNR and
Compression Ratio.

5. CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, we have presented results from a comparative

study of four wavelets families used in DWT-based image
compression techniques. The influence of the spectral activity of
the images in compression results is studied. Also, we show that
Sym2 and Sym3 wavelets are equivalent to Db2 and Db3,
respectively. But in terms of computational complexity, Db2 and
Db3 are less complex. Also, for a good trade-off between PSNR
and CR, we should choose the Bior4.4 or Coif2. However, since
Coiflet wavelets are symmetrical, which cause phase shifts in
image processing; the Bior4.4 is a better option. In addition,
considering only PSNR as a quality measure, regardless of the
CR, the Db2 and Coif! wavelets are the best choices.
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Fig. 5: a) Compressed image at 9 1 .42% with Bio4.4, b) Compressed
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