# 3DM-WeConvene: Learned Image Compression with 3D Multi-Level Wavelet-Domain Convolution and Entropy Model

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.04658 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.04658/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 29 of its 48 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 7 Apr 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 29 of 29)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Microsoft COCO: Common Objects in Context](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1405.0312/) (2014)
- [Semantic Understanding of Scenes through the ADE20K Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.05442/) (2016)
- [Variational image compression with a scale hyperprior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.01436/) (2018)
- [End-to-end Optimized Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.01704/) (2016)
- [Joint Autoregressive and Hierarchical Priors for Learned Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.02736/) (2018)
- [Learned Image Compression with Discretized Gaussian Mixture Likelihoods and Attention Modules](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.01568/) (2020)
- [DVC: An End-to-end Deep Video Compression Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.00101/) (2018)
- [ELIC: Efficient Learned Image Compression with Unevenly Grouped Space-Channel Contextual Adaptive Coding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.10886/) (2022)
- [Channel-wise Autoregressive Entropy Models for Learned Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.08739/) (2020)
- [Learned Image Compression with Mixed Transformer-CNN Architectures](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.14978/) (2023)
- [Checkerboard Context Model for Efficient Learned Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.15306/) (2021)
- [Learning Enriched Features for Fast Image Restoration and Enhancement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.01649/) (2022)
- [The Devil Is in the Details: Window-based Attention for Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.08450/) (2022)
- [Context-adaptive Entropy Model for End-to-end Optimized Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.10452/) (2018)
- [Drop an Octave: Reducing Spatial Redundancy in Convolutional Neural Networks with Octave Convolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.05049/) (2019)
- [Entroformer: A Transformer-based Entropy Model for Learned Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.05492/) (2022)
- [Enhanced Invertible Encoding for Learned Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.03690/) (2021)
- [MLIC: Multi-Reference Entropy Model for Learned Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.07273/) (2022)
- [End-to-end optimization of nonlinear transform codes for perceptual quality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.05006/) (2016)
- [Learning End-to-End Lossy Image Compression: A Benchmark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.03711/) (2020)
- [Frequency-Aware Transformer for Learned Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.16387/) (2023)
- [Learned Image Compression with Gaussian-Laplacian-Logistic Mixture Model and Concatenated Residual Modules](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.06463/) (2021)
- [A Comprehensive Benchmark for Single Image Compression Artifacts Reduction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.03647/) (2019)
- [Frequency Disentangled Features in Neural Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.02620/) (2023)
- [Learned Multi-Resolution Variable-Rate Image Compression with Octave-based Residual Blocks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.15463/) (2020)
- [Fast and High-Performance Learned Image Compression With Improved Checkerboard Context Model, Deformable Residual Module, and Knowledge Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.02529/) (2023)
- [Learned Variable-Rate Multi-Frequency Image Compression using Modulated Generalized Octave Convolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.13074/) (2020)
- [Learned Image Compression with Generalized Octave Convolution and Cross-Resolution Parameter Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.03353/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [ARCHE: Autoregressive Residual Compression with Hyperprior and Excitation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.10188/) (2026)
- [ChWDTA: Channel-wise Wavelet-Domain Transformer Attention and Entropy Modeling for Learned Image Compression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.00111/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Learned image compression (LIC) has recently made significant progress, surpassing traditional methods. However, most LIC approaches operate mainly in the spatial domain and lack mechanisms for reducing frequency-domain correlations. To address this, we propose a novel framework that integrates low-complexity 3D multi-level Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) into convolutional layers and entropy coding, reducing both spatial and channel correlations to improve frequency selectivity and rate-distortion (R-D) performance. Our proposed 3D multi-level wavelet-domain convolution (3DM-WeConv) layer first applies 3D multi-level DWT (e.g., 5/3 and 9/7 wavelets from JPEG 2000) to transform data into the wavelet domain. Then, different-sized convolutions are applied to different frequency subbands, followed by inverse 3D DWT to restore the spatial domain. The 3DM-WeConv layer can be flexibly used within existing CNN-based LIC models. We also introduce a 3D wavelet-domain channel-wise autoregressive entropy model (3DWeChARM), which performs slice-based entropy coding in the 3D DWT domain. Low-frequency (LF) slices are encoded first to provide priors for high-frequency (HF) slices. A two-step training strategy is adopted: first balancing LF and HF rates, then fine-tuning with separate weights. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our framework consistently outperforms state-of-the-art CNN-based LIC methods in R-D performance and computational complexity, with larger gains for high-resolution images. On the Kodak, Tecnick 100, and CLIC test sets, our method achieves BD-Rate reductions of -12.24%, -15.51%, and -12.97%, respectively, compared to H.266/VVC.