Characteristics of Huffman Codes

Huffman codes are prefix-free binary code trees, therefore all substantial considerations apply accordingly [].

Codes generated by the Huffman algorithm achieve the ideal code length up to the bit boundary. The maximum deviation is less than 1 bit.

Example:

Symbol  P(x)    I(x)   Code   H(x)
                      Length
  A     0,387   1,369   1     0,530
  B     0,194   2,369   3     0,459
  C     0,161   2,632   3     0,425
  D     0,129   2,954   3     0,381
  E     0,129   2,954   3     0,381
--------------------------------------
       theoretical minimum:   2,176 bit
       code length Huffman:   2,226 bit

The computation of the entropy results in an average code length of 2.176 bit per symbol on the assumption of the distribution mentioned. In contrast to this a Huffman code attains an average of 2.226 bits per symbol. Thus Huffman coding approaches the optimum on 97.74%.

An even better result can be achieved only with the arithmetic coding, but its usage is restricted by patents.