#  [](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@thi.ng/rle-pack)  [](https://mastodon.thi.ng/@toxi) > [!NOTE] > This is one of 205 standalone projects, maintained as part > of the [@thi.ng/umbrella](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/) monorepo > and anti-framework. > > 🚀 Please help me to work full-time on these projects by [sponsoring me on > GitHub](https://github.com/sponsors/postspectacular). Thank you! ❤️ - [About](#about) - [Encoding format](#encoding-format) - [Status](#status) - [Related packages](#related-packages) - [Installation](#installation) - [Dependencies](#dependencies) - [API](#api) - [Authors](#authors) - [License](#license) ## About Binary [run-length encoding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run-length_encoding) packer/unpacker with support for customizable input word sizes (1 - 32 bits) and repeat count (run-length) bit sizes (1 - 16 bits). The encoder uses 4 different repeat group sizes (thresholds) to minimize the number of bits used to store the run lengths. The range of supported run lengths is 16 bits (i.e. 65536 repetitions). If a value is repeated more often than that, the remainder will be encoded using additional RLE chunks... ### Encoding format  - 32 bits - original number of words - 5 bits - word size - 16 bits - 4x RLE repeat group / chunk sizes (in bits) The default group sizes are: 3, 4, 8, 16, i.e. 8, 16, 256, 65536 repetitions Then per value: - 1 bit - encoding flag (1 = RLE encoded, 0 = single occurrence) - 2 bits - repeat or chunk class ID - m bits - repeat count or chunk size (if greater than max group size then split into chunks...) - n bits - value(s) ## Status **STABLE** - used in production [Search or submit any issues for this package](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/issues?q=%5Brle-pack%5D+in%3Atitle) ## Related packages - [@thi.ng/binary](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/binary) - 100+ assorted binary / bitwise operations, conversions, utilities, lookup tables - [@thi.ng/bitstream](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/bitstream) - ES6 iterator based read/write bit streams with support for variable word widths - [@thi.ng/range-coder](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/range-coder) - Binary data range encoder / decoder ## Installation ```bash yarn add @thi.ng/rle-pack ``` ESM import: ```ts import * as rle from "@thi.ng/rle-pack"; ``` Browser ESM import: ```html ``` [JSDelivr documentation](https://www.jsdelivr.com/) For Node.js REPL: ```js const rle = await import("@thi.ng/rle-pack"); ``` Package sizes (brotli'd, pre-treeshake): ESM: 637 bytes ## Dependencies - [@thi.ng/bitstream](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/bitstream) - [@thi.ng/errors](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/develop/packages/errors) ## API [Generated API docs](https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/rle-pack/) ```ts import { encode, decode } from "@thi.ng/rle-pack"; // prepare dummy data src = new Uint8Array(1024); src.set([1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,5,4,4,3,3,3,2,2,2,2,1,1,1,1,1], 512); // pack data packed = encode(src, src.length); packed.length // 30 => 2.93% of original // pack with custom word size (3 bits, i.e. our value range is only 0-7) // and use custom repeat group sizes suitable for our data alt = encode(src, src.length, 3, [1, 2, 3, 9]); alt.length // 20 => 1.95% of original, 66% of default config // unpack unpacked = new Uint8Array(decode(alt)); ``` ## Authors - [Karsten Schmidt](https://thi.ng) If this project contributes to an academic publication, please cite it as: ```bibtex @misc{thing-rle-pack, title = "@thi.ng/rle-pack", author = "Karsten Schmidt", note = "https://thi.ng/rle-pack", year = 2017 } ``` ## License © 2017 - 2025 Karsten Schmidt // Apache License 2.0