Improving the text compression ratio for ASCII text Using a combination of dictionary coding, ASCII compression, and Huffman coding

Abstract

Data compression is a field that has been extensively researched. Many compression algorithms in use today have been around for several decades, like Huffman Coding and dictionary coding. These are general-purpose compression algorithms and can be used on anything from text data to images and video. There are, however, much fewer lossless algorithms that are customized for compressing certain types of data, like ASCII text. This project is about creating a text-compression solution using a combination of the three compression algorithms dictionary coding, ASCII compression, and Huffman coding. The solution is customized for compressing ASCII text, but it can be used on any form of text. The algorithms will be combined to create a prototype that will be evaluated against general-purpose compression programs. An evaluation will also be made against the ASCII compression program Shoco. The results from the evaluation show that combining dictionary coding, ASCII compression, and Huffman coding does not surpass the compression ratio achieved from general-purpose compression programs.