Arithmetic Coding Implementation in MATLAB

Arithmetic coding can be implemented in MATLAB for data compression applications. Arithmetic coding is a lossless data compression technique that converts input data into a binary fraction to achieve compression. The implementation involves splitting input data into distinct symbols and mapping each symbol to a specific interval range. Through the algorithm, we progressively narrow these intervals based on each symbol's frequency distribution, allowing better adaptation to varying symbol probabilities. The compressed data can then be converted back to binary format for decompression when required. In MATLAB, this process can be efficiently implemented using core functions like arithmetic encoding/decoding operations, where key steps include probability distribution calculation using histcounts() or frequency analysis functions, interval scaling through mathematical operations, and binary conversion using dec2bin() or custom bit manipulation routines. The Arithmetic Coding Toolbox in MATLAB provides optimized functions for handling symbol probability tables and performing efficient range encoding/decoding operations with proper error handling for edge cases.