fpack(1)
NAME
fpack - FITS image compression program
SYNOPSIS
funpack [OPTION]... FILE...
DESCRIPTION
fpack is a utility program for optimally compressing images in the FITS data format. This programs is analogous to the GZIP utility program except that it is optimized for FITS format images and offer a wider choice of compression options.
OPTIONS
Flags must be separate and appear before filenames. Use '-' to read
from stdin.
The compression parameters specified on the fpack command line may be
overridden by compression directive keywords in the header of each HDU
of the input file(s).
-r Rice compression (default).
-h Hcompress compression.
-g or -g1 GZIP_1 (per-tile) compression.
-g2 GZIP_2 (per-tile) compression (with byte shuffling).
-p PLIO compression (only for positive 8 or 16-bit integer images).
-d Tile the image without compression (debugging mode).
-w Compress the whole image as a single large tile.
-t axes
Comma separated list of tile dimensions (default is row by row).
-q level
Quantized level spacing when converting floating point images to
scaled integers. (+value relative to sigma of background noise;
-value is absolute). Default q value of 4 gives a compression
ratio of about 6 with very high fidelity (only 0.26% increase in
noise). Using q values of 2, or 1 will give compression ratios
of about 8, or 10, respectively (with 1.0% or 4.1% noise
increase). The scaled quantized values are randomly dithered
using a seed value determined from the system clock at run time.
Use -q0 instead of -q to suppress random dithering. Use -qz
instead of -q to not dither zero-valued pixels. Use -qt or -qzt
to compute random dithering seed from first tile checksum. Use
-qN or -qzN, (N in range 1 to 10000) to use a specific dithering
seed. Floating-point images can be losslessly compressed by
selecting the GZIP algorithm and specifying -q 0, but this is
slower and often produces much less compression than the default
quantization method.
-i2f Convert integer images to floating point, then quantize and
compress using the specified q level. When used appropriately,
this lossy compression method can give much better compression
than the normal lossless compression methods without significant
loss of information. The -n3ratio and -n3min flags control the
minimum noise thresholds; Images below these thresholds will be
losslessly compressed.
-n3ratio
Minimum ratio of background noise sigma divided by q. Default =
2.0.
-n3min Minimum background noise sigma. Default = 6. The -i2f flag will
be ignored if the noise level in the image does not exceed both
thresholds.
-s scale
Scale factor for lossy Hcompress (default = 0 = lossless)
(+values relative to RMS noise; -value is absolute)
-n noise
Rescale scaled-integer images to reduce noise and improve
compression.
-v Verbose mode; list each file as it is processed.
-T Show compression algorithm comparison test statistics; files
unchanged.
-R file
Write the comparison test report (above) to a text file.
-table Compress FITS binary tables using prototype method, as well as
compress any image HDUs. This option is intended for
experimental use.
-tableonly
Compress only FITS binary tables using prototype method; do not
compress any image HDUs. This option is intended for
experimental use.
-F Overwrite input file by output file with same name.
-D Delete input file after writing output.
-Y Suppress prompts to confirm -F or -D options.
-S Output compressed FITS files to STDOUT.
-L List contents; files unchanged.
-C Don't update FITS checksum keywords.
-H Show this message.
-V Show version number.
SEE ALSO
funpack(1), fitscopy(1).
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