Question: How can PCL to PDF conversion with JBIG2 compression benefit my organization?
Answer: When images began to populate PDF files, file size quickly became a problem. As users added high-resolution images to PDF files, transition times increased and disk space became an issue. JBIG2 technology addresses both of these fundamental issues that all organizations face in today’s modern business environment — storage and portability.
JBIG2 is an image compression standard for bi-level images. It was developed by the Joint Bi-level Image Experts Group. It is compatible with both lossless and lossy compression; capable of generating files 30% the size the size of Group 4; generating files one-half to one-quarter the size of JBIG, the previous bi-level compression standard.
JBIG2’s main features:
JBIG2 Feature | Benefit | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Higher compression rates than its predecessors (e.g., JBIG1, TIFF G3, and G4). File size reduction capabilities up to 90% or higher. | Reduction in storage space and transmission bandwidth. | With JBIG2 compression, a 78 MB uncompressed 500-page PDF document, would see its file size drop to 12.7 MB. An equivalent TIFF file would be approx. 15.8 MB. |
| Lossy and lossless compression methods. | Lossy yields a higher compression rate without any perceivable information loss. | Lossy yields a higher compression rate without any perceivable information loss. |
| Use of symbol dictionaries | • For the compression of other images within the same document. • Eventually one symbol dictionary could be used to recognize the text in the image. It contains the building blocks of a possible OCR procedure to help rebuild font information (if lost). | • Unique to one PDF document, a global JBIG2 stream can contain a dictionary of symbols used for all the pages of the document. • Once the dictionary is built, software attempts to recognize letters and build legible text from them. |
| Use of arithmetic and Huffman coding schemes for bit representation. | Huffman coding takes less page memory and has faster compression and decompression than arithmetic coding. However, arithmetic compression is slower, uses more memory but yields better compression results. | JBIG2 can support the Huffman and the arithmetic coding algorithms for image structure information such as encoding schemes, references, indexes, sizes, offsets, and popular symbol identities. |
| ITU-T T.6 facsimile coding schemes and coding control functions for Group 4 facsimile functionalities, which is activated by a MMR (Modified READ (Relative Element Access Designate)) flag. | Use of the latest facsimile logic for the compression of building block images. | Any image leaf can be coded using MMR logic. In addition, a symbol in a dictionary or whole page can be found in the JBIG2 stream as a MMR image. |
| Stripped-page compression. | JBIG2 can compress uninterrupted image flows. | Under specific circumstances, if a scanner sends image information without a page cut, a JBIG2 stream can still take the data and compress it. |
| Most PDF viewers support reading JBIG2 (ver. 1.4 and higher). | JBIG2 technology can be easily integrated into the PDF’s established technologies. | Most of the PDF documents produced by high-end scanners with professional drivers are compressed with JBIG2 technologies. |
Whom Does JBIG2 Benefit?
Government, financial, judicial, and medical sectors are some examples of PDF-intensive industries where implementation of the JBIG2 format into their workflows would help IT Managers reap noticeable cost-saving benefits.
- State-of-the-art, accurate, device-independent representation of rasterized documents
- Efficient, high-quality communication of text and graphics
- Formatted documents that are suitable for high-speed production printing environments
- Conformance with JBIG2′s emerging new standard for Internet publishing tools, wireless applications, Internet fax, new-generation fax machines, multi-function peripherals and printer controllers.
Because JBIG2 is symbol-based compression of black-and-white (bitonal) images of text, PageTech’s JBIG2 compression has a distinct advantage over all known competitors implementing JBIG2 who must start with a scanned image of a page (BMP, TIFF or other raster format).
We directly transform the print stream that produces the documents. This eliminates the need for expensive scanning equipment, personnel to perform the scanning and the time required for an intermediate step. While interpreting the PCL, Pagetech’s PCL technology provides immediate access to all text characters, symbols and glyphs.
This is a distinct advantage over our competitors who must make several pattern-matching passes through a document’s scanned raster image which consists of text, raster, and grayscale and linedraw objects. Because the objects in a typical business document are almost all text, PageTech’s tools require significantly less time to build a dictionary to achieve maximum efficiency.
We can also add color, Intelligent Mail barcodes, QR codes, logos or form overlays to the PCL prior to printing or during the conversion to JBIG2/PDF!
PCLTool SDK LIVE Evaluation: http://www.pcltools.com/pt700d/
