My understanding is that there are 1000s of different compression algorithms, each with their own pros/cons dependent on the type and characteristics of the file. And yet we still try to pick the "generically best" codec for a given file (ex. PNG) and then use that everywhere.
Why don't we have context-dependent compression instead?
I'm imagining a system that scans objects before compression, selects the optimal algorithm, and then encodes the file. The selected compression algorithm could be prefixed for easy decompression.
Compare a single black image that's 1x1 to one that's 1000x1000. PNGs are 128bytes and 6KB, respectively. However, Run Length Encoding would compress the latter to a comparable size as the former.
My understanding is that there are 1000s of different compression algorithms, each with their own pros/cons dependent on the type and characteristics of the file. And yet we still try to pick the "generically best" codec for a given file (ex. PNG) and then use that everywhere.
Why don't we have context-dependent compression instead?
I'm imagining a system that scans objects before compression, selects the optimal algorithm, and then encodes the file. The selected compression algorithm could be prefixed for easy decompression.
Compare a single black image that's 1x1 to one that's 1000x1000. PNGs are 128bytes and 6KB, respectively. However, Run Length Encoding would compress the latter to a comparable size as the former.