Exploiting Semantic and Pixel Representations for Ultra-Low Bitrate Image Compression

ArXi:2606.01608v1 Announce Type: new Most existing extreme compression methods fail to achieve an optimal rate-distortion-perception trade-off, as they typically prioritize perceptual fidelity and visual realism over pixel-level accuracy. Consequently, the resulting reconstructions often deviate noticeably from the originals. Ultra-low bitrate image compression is. therefore. crucial-not only for producing extremely compact representations but also for ensuring that reconstructed images remain semantically coherent and faithful to the source at the pixel level.