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The Burrows-Wheeler Transform: Theory and Practice

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Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science 1999 (MFCS 1999)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1672))

Abstract

In this paper we describe the Burrows-Wheeler Transform (BWT) a completely new approach to data compression which is the basis of some of the best compressors available today. Although it is easy to intuitively understand why the BWT helps compression, the analysis of BWT-based algorithms requires a careful study of every single algorithmic component. We describe two algorithms which use the BWT and we show that their compression ratio can be bounded in terms of the k-th order empirical entropy of the input string for any k ≥ 0. Intuitively, this means that these algorithms are able to make use of all the regularity which is in the input string.

We also discuss some of the algorithmic issues which arise in the computation of the BWT, and we describe two variants of the BWT which promise interesting developments.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Avanzate, Università del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro”, I-15100, Alessandria, Italy

    Giovanni Manzini

  2. Istituto di Matematica Computazionale, CNR, I-56126, Pisa, Italy

    Giovanni Manzini

Authors
  1. Giovanni Manzini
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Computer Science, University of Wrocław, Przesmyckiego 20, PL-51-151, Wrocław, Poland

    Mirosław Kutyłowski , Leszek Pacholski  & Tomasz Wierzbicki ,  & 

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© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Manzini, G. (1999). The Burrows-Wheeler Transform: Theory and Practice. In: Kutyłowski, M., Pacholski, L., Wierzbicki, T. (eds) Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science 1999. MFCS 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1672. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48340-3_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48340-3_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-66408-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48340-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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