Quality measurement for monochrome compressed images in the past 25 years

Abstract

While lossy image compression techniques are vital in reducing bandwidth and storage requirements, they result in distortions in compressed images. A reliable quality measure is a much needed tool for determining the type and amount of image distortion. The traditional subjective criteria, which involve human observers, are inconvenient, time-consuming, and influenced by environmental conditions. Widely used pixel wise measures such as the mean square error (MSE) cannot capture the artifacts like blurriness or blockiness, and do not correlate well with visual error perception. Attempts to improve quality measurement include incorporation of simple models of the human visual system (HVS) and multi-dimensional tool design. We review the criteria for monochrome compressed image quality from 1974 to 1999.