Two-dimensional blocks of line-work image data are subjected to: fractal reordering; run length encoding of the pixel values of the fractal re-ordered data, index encoding of the run length encoded pixel values; and entropy encoding of the index encoded pixel values and run lengths. This lossless, but in case of applying a quantisation step, lossy image data compression and decompression method is particularly suitable for handling image data in a printer environment, and more particularly for handling image data comprising line work data or both raster images and line work data.

 
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> Loss-less compression of still images at enhanced speed

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