On Wednesday 20 February 2008 18:01:31 Måns Rullgård wrote:
The optimal coding of a field depends on the distribution of values, not only on the valid range. For instance, if the value is very small, say 0--2, in 99% of all cases, but is occasionally much higher, other schemes become attractive. A simple one is the exp-golomb coding used in H.264. I assume you hate it, if for no other reason because it is used in an MPEG standard, but I mention it nonetheless (or maybe because of this).
but golomb coding is much heavier to decode than vlc, and considering that the CPU has to waste a lot of time decoding video and audio it seems a real waste of resources to me, especially considering the minimal advantages it takes and the added complexity it requires in a demuxer