# Image Encoding

Once the segmentation step has been performed, the Blob tool converts the input image into a run-length encoded (RLE) image. Run-length encoding is an encoding technique that takes advantage of the fact that most segmented images contain large numbers of adjacent pixels with the same pixel value. Runs of pixels with the same pixel value are stored as a pixel value and a run length. The resulting RLE image has a number of advantages when compared with an unencoded image:

- Less storage is required for a given image.
- Blob analysis operations can be performed more quickly on an RLE image than on an unencoded image.

Because RLE images are a compact way of storing an image, and because many blob operations can be performed more quickly using RLE images, the Blob tool provides a facility for obtaining the RLE representation of an image.

Also, a number of image-processing options are provided by the Blob tool. The tool performs these image-processing steps during and after the process of encoding the image as an RLE image.