RLE
RLE is the abbreviation for run-length encoding, which replaces runs of repeated symbols with (symbol, count) pairs.
Purpose
It compresses data with long runs, such as bitmaps, faxes, and sparse sequences.
Mechanism
Runs of consecutive identical symbols are counted and emitted as (symbol, length) pairs; decoding expands them back.
Use cases
- Fax images
- Bitmap compression
- Sparse data