Constructive Approaches to Perception-Aware Lossy Source Coding: Information-Theoretic Guidelines

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Hussein, Ali, Chen, Jun, Tian, Chao, Pradhan, S. Sandeep
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Hussein, Ali
Chen, Jun
Tian, Chao
Pradhan, S. Sandeep
author_facet Hussein, Ali
Chen, Jun
Tian, Chao
Pradhan, S. Sandeep
contents Perception-aware lossy source coding has attracted significant recent interest. It augments the classical distortion criterion with an explicit perception constraint, thereby enabling more refined control over fidelity and perceptual quality. Despite rapid progress, the diversity of rate-distortion-perception formulations and their underlying assumptions remains poorly understood by many practitioners. In particular, there is often a tendency to rely heavily on the expressive power of deep neural networks and generative models without clear theoretical guidance, using fundamental limits merely as performance benchmarks rather than as sources of design insight. This tutorial paper aims to bridge this gap by surveying information-theoretic principles that can be leveraged to develop constructive approaches to perception-aware lossy source coding. We distill practical guidelines implied by rate-distortion-perception theory and demonstrate how they inform the design of implementable coding schemes. A simple unit-circle example is used as a pedagogical tool to illustrate key ideas, architectural principles, and tradeoffs in an intuitive and unified manner. Both one-shot and asymptotic settings are examined to highlight conceptual similarities and operational differences. We also clarify the role of common randomness and the notion of universal representation, and elucidate the connections between perception-aware and conventional lossy source coding. Overall, this tutorial provides a principled foundation for developing perception-aware compression systems that go beyond black-box model design.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_19515
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Constructive Approaches to Perception-Aware Lossy Source Coding: Information-Theoretic Guidelines
Hussein, Ali
Chen, Jun
Tian, Chao
Pradhan, S. Sandeep
Information Theory
Perception-aware lossy source coding has attracted significant recent interest. It augments the classical distortion criterion with an explicit perception constraint, thereby enabling more refined control over fidelity and perceptual quality. Despite rapid progress, the diversity of rate-distortion-perception formulations and their underlying assumptions remains poorly understood by many practitioners. In particular, there is often a tendency to rely heavily on the expressive power of deep neural networks and generative models without clear theoretical guidance, using fundamental limits merely as performance benchmarks rather than as sources of design insight. This tutorial paper aims to bridge this gap by surveying information-theoretic principles that can be leveraged to develop constructive approaches to perception-aware lossy source coding. We distill practical guidelines implied by rate-distortion-perception theory and demonstrate how they inform the design of implementable coding schemes. A simple unit-circle example is used as a pedagogical tool to illustrate key ideas, architectural principles, and tradeoffs in an intuitive and unified manner. Both one-shot and asymptotic settings are examined to highlight conceptual similarities and operational differences. We also clarify the role of common randomness and the notion of universal representation, and elucidate the connections between perception-aware and conventional lossy source coding. Overall, this tutorial provides a principled foundation for developing perception-aware compression systems that go beyond black-box model design.
title Constructive Approaches to Perception-Aware Lossy Source Coding: Information-Theoretic Guidelines
topic Information Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.19515