Discrete Cosine Transform

By Rohit Tripathi
DFT Problems
 It is complex because it uses complex
computations.
 It has poor energy compaction.
 Note: Energy compaction -This means that the
energy in the spatial or image domain , is
typically concentrated in a smaller number of
coefficients.
 If compaction is high, we have to transmit only a
few coefficients.
DCT
 It overcomes the problems of DFT.
 Its coefficients are real because it uses real
computations.This makes DCT hardware simpler as
compared to DFT.
 It has high energy compaction capability because its
coefficient values are low that can be encoded at
very low bit rates without degrading the image
quality significantly.
 It can be computed using DFT or FFT also.
Types of DCT
 There are various versions of the DCT.
 These are usually known as DCT-I to DCT-IV.
 The most popular is the DCT-II, also known as
even symmetric DCT, or as “the DCT”.
Applications
 The DCT is the basis of the image-compression
standard issued by the Joint Photographic Experts
Group (JPEG).
 The DCT is also used in the MPEG (Moving
Picture Experts Group)standard for video
compression and in many streaming video
players.
 1D DCT
 For an array of N data items,1D DCT is defined by:

 and the corresponding inverse 1D DCT transform is

2D DCT
 For a 2D M by N array image 2D DCT is defined :
2D DCT cont.
 The corresponding inverse 2D DCT transform is:

 The transformed array X(k,l) obtained through the DCT equation is

also of the same size M x N, same as that of the original image block
x(m,n). It should be noted here that the transform-domain indices k
and l indicate the spatial frequencies in the directions of m and n
respectively.
 The DCT transform operates on this block in a left-to- right, top-to-
bottom manner.
2D DCT cont.
 Selection of block-size in DCT is an important
consideration.
 The images should be divided in a manner that the level of
redundancies between the adjacent pixels are reduced to an
acceptable level.
 Increasing the block size reduces adjacent pixel redundancies
and reduces reconstruction error, but involves more
computations.
 Most popular block sizes used in image compression are 8 x
8 pixels and 16 x 16 pixels.
2D DCT cont.
 2D DCT can be computed using 1D DCT with the row-column
decomposition (No need to apply 2D form directly):
– apply 1D DCT (Vertically) to Columns
– apply 1D DCT (Horizontally) to resultant Vertical DCT
above.
– or alternatively Horizontal to Vertical.
Ex 1.Consider an 8x8 block from a standard black and white
image, whose pixel intensities are shown in Fig. below

 We subtract 128 from each pixel intensity and then compute the DCT
for each element using DCT.
 The DCT values are shown below

 It is worth noting that most of the transformed coefficients have

very small values and only a few coefficients have higher
magnitudes. This shows the energy compaction capabilities of
DCT.
Q.Why do level offsetting (subtracting by 128) is done on
the pixel values before applying DCT on the image?
Ans.
 In JPEG process, pixel value of a black and white image
range from 0 to 255 in steps of 1.
 Pure black is represented by 0.
 Pure white is represented by 255.
 Before computing DCT, the value 128 is subtracted from
each entry to produce a data range that is centered around
zero, so that the modified range is [-128, 127].
 This step reduces reduces average DC value of DCT
coefficents.
 DCT is designed to work on pixel values ranging from -128
to 127.
Ex 2. Consider an example of Figure 1, shows the 2D DCT for
an 8 x 8 image matrix of pixels . Note that the lowest DCT
coefficient is in upper left-hand corner while the highest DCT
coefficient is in lower right-hand corner.

Figure 1
Figure 1 (a)–1(d) shows the progression of
image quality, as the lowest 1, 3, 6, and 21
DCT coefficients are included in the
reconstructed image. Note that even with 1
DCT coefficient, the image is recognizable, and
the image with 21 reconstructed coefficients is
virtually indistinguishable from the original
image [Figure 1(e)].
Figure 1(a) with only one DCT coefficient
Figure 1(b) with 1st 3 DCT coefficients
Figure 1(c) with 1st 6 DCT coefficients
Figure 1(d) with 1st 21 DCT coefficients
Original Mandrill image
Limitation of DCT
Limitation of DCT:
 Serious blocking artifacts are introduced at the pixel
boundaries
Note: Blocking artifacts
 DCT involves discarding some of the media's data so that
it becomes simplified enough to be stored within the
desired disk space or be transmitted within the bandwidth
limitations (known as a data rate or bit rate ).
 If the compressed file could not reproduce enough data
on decompression to reproduce the original, the result is a
degraded quality media or introduction of artifacts.
Limitation of DCT

 Blocking artifact is the most serious and

objectionable at low bit rates.
 Blocking artifacts may be reduced by applying
transforms like the Lapped Orthogonal
Transform (LOT) or Discrete Wavelet
Transforms (DWT)(not in our syllabus).
Questions
Q1. Which of the following statements is wrong
(A) An N-point DCT has N-periodicity.
(B) DCT involves real computations only.
(C) Forward and inverse DCT formulas are same.
(D) DCT exhibits good energy compaction capability.

Ans.(A)
2. DCT is applied on the following 2x2 pixel array:

The DCT coefficients obtained from the above array are

Ans.(C)
Q3.Determine 1D DCT of array
x(n)=[ 5 4 3 2]
Ans. X(k)=[7 2.23 0 0.16]

Q4. Determine 2D DCT of 4x4 array

0 0 0 1
0 0 1 0
0 1 0 0
1 0 0 0

Ans.
1 0 0 0
0 -1 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 -1
Q5.Determine 2D DCT of 2x2 array
0 1
1 0

Ans. 1 0
0 -1

Note: Here answer is opposite diagonal matrix with alternate

1s and -1s.