Editing Golomb coding (section)

== Simple algorithm ==

Below is the Rice–Golomb encoding, where the remainder code uses simple truncated binary encoding, also named "Rice coding" (other varying-length binary encodings, like arithmetic or Huffman encodings, are possible for the remainder codes, if the statistic distribution of remainder codes is not flat, and notably when not all possible remainders after the division are used). In this algorithm, if the ''M'' parameter is a power of 2, it becomes equivalent to the simpler Rice encoding:

# Fix the parameter ''M'' to an integer value.
# For ''N'', the number to be encoded, find
##  quotient = ''q'' = floor(''N''/''M'')
##  remainder = ''r'' = ''N''  modulo ''M''
# Generate codeword
##  The code format : <Quotient code><Remainder code>, where
##  Quotient code (in [[unary coding]])
###   Write a ''q''-length string of 1 bits (alternatively, of 0 bits)
###   Write a 0 bit (respectively, a 1 bit)
##  Remainder code (in [[truncated binary encoding]])
###   Let <math>b = \lfloor\log_2(M)\rfloor</math>
####    If <math>r < 2^{b+1}-M</math> code ''r'' in binary representation using ''b'' bits.
####    If <math>r \ge 2^{b+1}-M</math> code the number <math>r+2^{b+1}-M</math> in binary representation using ''b'' + 1 bits.

Decoding:
# Decode the unary representation of ''q'' (count the number of 1 in the beginning of the code)
# Skip the 0 delimiter
# Let <math>b = \lfloor\log_2(M)\rfloor</math>
## Interpret next ''b'' bits as a binary number ''r'''. If <math>r' < 2^{b+1}-M</math> holds, then the remainder <math> r = r' </math>
## Otherwise interpret ''b + 1'' bits as a binary number ''r''', the remainder is given by <math>r = r' - 2^{b+1} + M</math>
# Compute <math>N = q * M + r</math>