The largest absolute value (LAV) is determined within a group of data. Based on the LAV, a difference table is identified that is to be used for selecting an optimal Huffman codebook for the group of data. The difference table is associated with two Huffman codebooks. Further, one or more indexes are calculated for the group of data using an expression associated with the two Huffman codebooks, and a size difference value is determined for the group of data using the calculated indexes and the difference table. Based on the determined size difference value, the optimal Huffman codebook is selected from the above two codebooks.