Fundamentals of Multimedia

Multimedia is a ubiquitous part of the technological environment in which we work and think, touching upon almost all aspects of computer science and engineering.
This comprehensive textbook introduces the Fundamentals of Multimedia in an accessible manner, addressing real issues commonly faced in the workplace. Suitable for both advanced undergraduate and graduate students, the essential concepts are explained in a practical way to enable students to apply their existing skills to address problems in multimedia. Fully revised and updated, this new edition now includes coverage of such topics as 3D TV, social networks, high-efficiency video compression and conferencing, wireless and mobile networks, and their attendant technologies.

Topics and features:


Presents a brief history and overview of the key concepts in multimedia, including important data representations and color science
Reviews lossless and lossy compression methods for image, video and audio data
Examines the demands placed by multimedia communications on wired and wireless networks
Discusses the impact of social media and cloud computing on information sharing, and on multimedia content search and retrieval
Includes study exercises at the end of each chapter
Provides supplementary resources for both students and instructors at an associated website
This classroom-tested textbook is ideal for higher-level undergraduate and graduate courses on multimedia systems. Practitioners in industry interested in current multimedia technologies will also find the book to be a useful reference.


Dr. Ze-Nian Li and Dr. Mark S. Drew are Professors in the School of Computing Science at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Dr. Jiangchuan Liu is an Associate Professor at the same institution.