File Compression System Using Huffman Coding

Abstract

Abstract—File compression, which minimizes file sizes without significantly compromising the quality of information contained in the file, is among the most critical aspects of data management since it facilitates fast flow and storage of data. Storage manage- ment has become more challenging due to the exponential growth of digital data; hence, efficient file compression has been an issue of great importance to help in decreasing storage expenses and increasing data transfer rates. This paper presents a web interface for the file compression system that is based on lossless data compression known as Huffman coding to reduce the size of the files without changing their content. A standard internet portal allows the users to upload their files to the system and get back resized files within the shortest time possible. The technique employed in the compression is astute in that it uses Huffman codes which give characters codes depending with their frequencies in the file. It then follows that since most of the file will have short codes; the file will take up less space. To safeguard the compressed information, the system generates a data structure called a Huffman tree in which no code is a sub- string of any other. This application does seize to be usable from a few selected devices such as desktops and laptop computers but can also be accessed from projectors and cell phones because of the effective design. The file compression system is also versatile and accommodates various file categories such text, image and binary among others providing users with convenience in a number of sectors. Index Terms—Data Compression, Hoffman Coding, HTML( Hypertext Markup Language), CSS ( Cascading Styling Sheet ), JavaScript.