Run-length encoding
Form of lossless data compression / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Run-length encoding?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Run-length encoding (RLE) is a form of lossless data compression in which runs of data (sequences in which the same data value occurs in many consecutive data elements) are stored as a single data value and count, rather than as the original run. This is most efficient on data that contains many such runs, for example, simple graphic images such as icons, line drawings, Conway's Game of Life, and animations. For files that do not have many runs, RLE could increase the file size.
RLE may also be used to refer to an early graphics file format supported by CompuServe for compressing black and white images, but was widely supplanted by their later Graphics Interchange Format (GIF). RLE also refers to a little-used image format in Windows 3.x, with the extension rle
, which is a run-length encoded bitmap, used to compress the Windows 3.x startup screen.