From Pixels to DNA: Why the Future of Compression Is About Every Kind of Data

Data compression is evolving beyond traditional audio and video to address the exponential growth of all data types, including genomes, point clouds, and neural networks. The JPEG committee is developing new standards like JPEG AI for learning-based coding, JPEG Trust for content authenticity, and JPEG DNA for biological data storage. Similarly, the MPEG group is working on next-generation video codecs, such as the future H.267, which prioritize not just bitrate reduction but also latency, deployability, and use-case relevance for AI. These advancements signify a fundamental shift from compressing media for human viewing to encoding complex data for both human and machine analysis.