A highly efficient multiplication-free binary arithmetic coder and its application in video coding

A novel and highly efficient algorithm of multiplication-free binary arithmetic coding is proposed. Our proposed method relies on simple table lookups for performing the computationally critical operations of interval subdivision and probability estimation. Moreover, the underlying design principle provides a great flexibility for serving the different needs of all kind of coding applications where binary or binarized data have to be processed. A binary arithmetic coder of the type described in this paper has become part of the CABAC entropy coding scheme of the emerging H.264/AVC video coding standard. Experiments using this binary arithmetic coder in its native video coding environment demonstrate a superior coding efficiency as well as a significantly higher throughput rate in comparison to the MQ coder, which is currently being considered state-of-the-art in fast binary arithmetic coding.