System for compressing and decompressing binary representations of dithered images

A method for compression and decompression of dithered images is disclosed. Logical units (tiles) of the binary representation are classified (205) into equivalence classes which are then compressed (206). Each equivalence class represents tiles having similar gray levels (i.e. the same number of black pixels), but which may have different sequences of black and white pixels. Each equivalence class has associated with it a predefined set of rendering exemplars. Each of the exemplars has a similar gray level. Upon decompression, each instance of an equivalence class takes on the value of one of the rendering exemplars which is selected pseudo-randomly. This effectively causes the image to be re-dithered so there is no loss of critical image information on decompression.