Huffman compression

• Compresses files using the huffman-compression technique
• Achieves best results (compression ratios) if the given file has many repeated characters
• Can also encode and decode a string (legacy)
• Takes a file as input and spits out a compressed file

Installation

• Build the executable using the cmd make
• Run the huffman_compress file with appropriate inputs
• Make sure to make clean before re-building

Huffman Compression Process

• Each char from the input file is assigned a code in binary that is way shorter than 8 bits (size required to store a char)
• The input file is then encoded using these codes (known as the huffman codes)
• The compressed file's metadata consist of huffman codes + encoded data
• Huffman codes are generated by building a tree known as the huffman tree which internally uses a min-heap to pick out and insert the nodes to the tree
• Here's a detailed video on how huffman coding works by the OG Abdul Bari