Editing Elias delta coding (section)

== Generalizations ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Elias gamma coding]] -->
{{See also|Variable-length quantity#Zigzag encoding}}
Elias delta coding does not code zero or negative integers.
One way to code all non negative integers is to add 1 before coding and then subtract 1 after decoding.
One way to code all integers is to set up a [[bijection]], mapping integers all integers (0, 1, −1, 2, −2, 3, −3, ...) to strictly positive integers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ...) before coding.
This bijection can be performed using the [[Comparison of data serialization formats|"ZigZag" encoding from Protocol Buffers]] (not to be confused with [[Zigzag code]], nor the [[JPEG#Entropy coding|JPEG Zig-zag entropy coding]]).