Shannon–Fano coding

In the field of data compression, Shannon–Fano coding, named after Claude Shannon and Robert Fano, is a technique for constructing a prefix code based on a set of symbols and their probabilities (estimated or measured). It is suboptimal in the sense that it does not achieve the lowest possible expected code word length like Huffman coding. In the field of data compression, Shannon–Fano coding, named after Claude Shannon and Robert Fano, is a technique for constructing a prefix code based on a set of symbols and their probabilities (estimated or measured). It is suboptimal in the sense that it does not achieve the lowest possible expected code word length like Huffman coding. The technique was proposed in Shannon's 'A Mathematical Theory of Communication', his 1948 article introducing the field of information theory. The method was attributed to Fano, who later published it as a technical report. Shannon–Fano coding should not be confused with Shannon coding, the coding method used to prove Shannon's noiseless coding theorem, or with Shannon–Fano–Elias coding (also known as Elias coding), the precursor to arithmetic coding.