A method of image and video compression including data re-ordering to
improve the performance of the core compression algorithm. In the
inventive method, pixel values of at least part of an image are examined
and then re-ordered into a new order that has greater compactability than
the original pixel order. The re-ordered pixel values are then
compressed, e.g., by block transform. In the particular case of a
compression scheme employing a block transform, the inventive method
reduces the complexity of the transform coefficients, resulting in more
efficient compression. The method may be added to existing compression
algorithms with only minor modifications to the bitstream and decoder
architecture.