Linear Attention Modeling for Learned Image Compression

Recent years, learned image compression has made tremendous progress to achieve impressive coding efficiency. Its coding gain mainly comes from non-linear neural network-based transform and learnable entropy modeling. However, most of recent focuses have been solely on a strong backbone, and few studies consider the low-complexity design. In this paper, we propose LALIC, a linear attention modeling for learned image compression. Specially, we propose to use Bi-RWKV blocks, by utilizing the Spatial Mix and Channel Mix modules to achieve more compact features extraction, and apply the Conv based Omni-Shift module to adapt to two-dimensional latent representation. Furthermore, we propose a RWKV-based Spatial-Channel ConTeXt model (RWKV-SCCTX), that leverages the Bi-RWKV to modeling the correlation between neighboring features effectively, to further improve the RD performance. To our knowledge, our work is the first work to utilize efficient Bi-RWKV models with linear attention for learned image compression. Experimental results demonstrate that our method achieves competitive RD performances by outperforming VTM-9.1 by -14.84%, -15.20%, -17.32% in BD-rate on Kodak, Tecnick and CLIC Professional validation datasets.

Consistent Video Colorization via Palette Guidance

Colorization is a traditional computer vision task and it plays an important role in many time-consuming tasks, such as old film restoration. Existing methods suffer from unsaturated color and temporally inconsistency. In this paper, we propose a novel pipeline to overcome the challenges. We regard the colorization task as a generative task and introduce Stable Video Diffusion (SVD) as our base model. We design a palette-based color guider to assist the model in generating vivid and consistent colors. The color context introduced by the palette not only provides guidance for color generation, but also enhances the stability of the generated colors through a unified color context across multiple sequences. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed method can provide vivid and stable colors for videos, surpassing previous methods.

Rate-Aware Learned Speech Compression

The rapid rise of real-time communication and large language models has significantly increased the importance of speech compression. Deep learning-based neural speech codecs have outperformed traditional signal-level speech codecs in terms of rate-distortion (RD) performance. Typically, these neural codecs employ an encoder-quantizer-decoder architecture, where audio is first converted into latent code feature representations and then into discrete tokens. However, this architecture exhibits insufficient RD performance due to two main drawbacks: (1) the inadequate performance of the quantizer, challenging training processes, and issues such as codebook collapse; (2) the limited representational capacity of the encoder and decoder, making it difficult to meet feature representation requirements across various bitrates. In this paper, we propose a rate-aware learned speech compression scheme that replaces the quantizer with an advanced channel-wise entropy model to improve RD performance, simplify training, and avoid codebook collapse. We employ multi-scale convolution and linear attention mixture blocks to enhance the representational capacity and flexibility of the encoder and decoder. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves state-of-the-art RD performance, obtaining 53.51% BD-Rate bitrate saving in average, and achieves 0.26 BD-VisQol and 0.44 BD-PESQ gains.

L3TC: Leveraging RWKV for Learned Lossless Low-Complexity Text Compression

Learning-based probabilistic models can be combined with an entropy coder for data compression. However, due to the high complexity of learning-based models, their practical application as text compressors has been largely overlooked. To address this issue, our work focuses on a low-complexity design while maintaining compression performance. We introduce a novel Learned Lossless Low-complexity Text Compression method (L3TC). Specifically, we conduct extensive experiments demonstrating that RWKV models achieve the fastest decoding speed with a moderate compression ratio, making it the most suitable backbone for our method. Second, we propose an outlier-aware tokenizer that uses a limited vocabulary to cover frequent tokens while allowing outliers to bypass the prediction and encoding. Third, we propose a novel high-rank reparameterization strategy that enhances the learning capability during training without increasing complexity during inference. Experimental results validate that our method achieves 48% bit saving compared to gzip compressor. Besides, L3TC offers compression performance comparable to other learned compressors, with a 50x reduction in model parameters. More importantly, L3TC is the fastest among all learned compressors, providing real-time decoding speeds up to megabytes per second. Our code is available at https://github.com/alipay/L3TC-leveraging-rwkv-for-learned-lossless-low-complexity-text-compression.git.

AsymLLIC: Asymmetric Lightweight Learned Image Compression

Learned image compression (LIC) methods often employ symmetrical encoder and decoder architectures, evitably increasing decoding time. However, practical scenarios demand an asymmetric design, where the decoder requires low complexity to cater to diverse low-end devices, while the encoder can accommodate higher complexity to improve coding performance. In this paper, we propose an asymmetric lightweight learned image compression (AsymLLIC) architecture with a novel training scheme, enabling the gradual substitution of complex decoding modules with simpler ones. Building upon this approach, we conduct a comprehensive comparison of different decoder network structures to strike a better trade-off between complexity and compression performance. Experiment results validate the efficiency of our proposed method, which not only achieves comparable performance to VVC but also offers a lightweight decoder with only 51.47 GMACs computation and 19.65M parameters. Furthermore, this design methodology can be easily applied to any LIC models, enabling the practical deployment of LIC techniques.

VidTok: A Versatile and Open-Source Video Tokenizer

Encoding video content into compact latent tokens has become a fundamental step in video generation and understanding, driven by the need to address the inherent redundancy in pixel-level representations. Consequently, there is a growing demand for high-performance, open-source video tokenizers as video-centric research gains prominence. We introduce VidTok, a versatile video tokenizer that delivers state-of-the-art performance in both continuous and discrete tokenizations. VidTok incorporates several key advancements over existing approaches: 1) model architecture such as convolutional layers and up/downsampling modules; 2) to address the training instability and codebook collapse commonly associated with conventional Vector Quantization (VQ), we integrate Finite Scalar Quantization (FSQ) into discrete video tokenization; 3) improved training strategies, including a two-stage training process and the use of reduced frame rates. By integrating these advancements, VidTok achieves substantial improvements over existing methods, demonstrating superior performance across multiple metrics, including PSNR, SSIM, LPIPS, and FVD, under standardized evaluation settings.

Controllable Distortion-Perception Tradeoff Through Latent Diffusion for Neural Image Compression

Neural image compression often faces a challenging trade-off among rate, distortion and perception. While most existing methods typically focus on either achieving high pixel-level fidelity or optimizing for perceptual metrics, we propose a novel approach that simultaneously addresses both aspects for a fixed neural image codec. Specifically, we introduce a plug-and-play module at the decoder side that leverages a latent diffusion process to transform the decoded features, enhancing either low distortion or high perceptual quality without altering the original image compression codec. Our approach facilitates fusion of original and transformed features without additional training, enabling users to flexibly adjust the balance between distortion and perception during inference. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that our method significantly enhances the pretrained codecs with a wide, adjustable distortion-perception range while maintaining their original compression capabilities. For instance, we can achieve more than 150% improvement in LPIPS-BDRate without sacrificing more than 1 dB in PSNR.

VRVVC: Variable-Rate NeRF-Based Volumetric Video Compression

Neural Radiance Field (NeRF)-based volumetric video has revolutionized visual media by delivering photorealistic Free-Viewpoint Video (FVV) experiences that provide audiences with unprecedented immersion and interactivity. However, the substantial data volumes pose significant challenges for storage and transmission. Existing solutions typically optimize NeRF representation and compression independently or focus on a single fixed rate-distortion (RD) tradeoff. In this paper, we propose VRVVC, a novel end-to-end joint optimization variable-rate framework for volumetric video compression that achieves variable bitrates using a single model while maintaining superior RD performance. Specifically, VRVVC introduces a compact tri-plane implicit residual representation for inter-frame modeling of long-duration dynamic scenes, effectively reducing temporal redundancy. We further propose a variable-rate residual representation compression scheme that leverages a learnable quantization and a tiny MLP-based entropy model. This approach enables variable bitrates through the utilization of predefined Lagrange multipliers to manage the quantization error of all latent representations. Finally, we present an end-to-end progressive training strategy combined with a multi-rate-distortion loss function to optimize the entire framework. Extensive experiments demonstrate that VRVVC achieves a wide range of variable bitrates within a single model and surpasses the RD performance of existing methods across various datasets.

Face De-identification: State-of-the-art Methods and Comparative Studies

The widespread use of image acquisition technologies, along with advances in facial recognition, has raised serious privacy concerns. Face de-identification usually refers to the process of concealing or replacing personal identifiers, which is regarded as an effective means to protect the privacy of facial images. A significant number of methods for face de-identification have been proposed in recent years. In this survey, we provide a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art face de-identification methods, categorized into three levels: pixel-level, representation-level, and semantic-level techniques. We systematically evaluate these methods based on two key criteria, the effectiveness of privacy protection and preservation of image utility, highlighting their advantages and limitations. Our analysis includes qualitative and quantitative comparisons of the main algorithms, demonstrating that deep learning-based approaches, particularly those using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and diffusion models, have achieved significant advancements in balancing privacy and utility. Experimental results reveal that while recent methods demonstrate strong privacy protection, trade-offs remain in visual fidelity and computational complexity. This survey not only summarizes the current landscape but also identifies key challenges and future research directions in face de-identification.

Rate-aware Compression for NeRF-based Volumetric Video

The neural radiance fields (NeRF) have advanced the development of 3D volumetric video technology, but the large data volumes they involve pose significant challenges for storage and transmission. To address these problems, the existing solutions typically compress these NeRF representations after the training stage, leading to a separation between representation training and compression. In this paper, we try to directly learn a compact NeRF representation for volumetric video in the training stage based on the proposed rate-aware compression framework. Specifically, for volumetric video, we use a simple yet effective modeling strategy to reduce temporal redundancy for the NeRF representation. Then, during the training phase, an implicit entropy model is utilized to estimate the bitrate of the NeRF representation. This entropy model is then encoded into the bitstream to assist in the decoding of the NeRF representation. This approach enables precise bitrate estimation, thereby leading to a compact NeRF representation. Furthermore, we propose an adaptive quantization strategy and learn the optimal quantization step for the NeRF representations. Finally, the NeRF representation can be optimized by using the rate-distortion trade-off. Our proposed compression framework can be used for different representations and experimental results demonstrate that our approach significantly reduces the storage size with marginal distortion and achieves state-of-the-art rate-distortion performance for volumetric video on the HumanRF and ReRF datasets. Compared to the previous state-of-the-art method TeTriRF, we achieved an approximately -80% BD-rate on the HumanRF dataset and -60% BD-rate on the ReRF dataset.