PANews reported on June 16 that according to Cointelegraph, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has approved the new Token for Image Tokenizer (TiTok) compression method for its application on the blockchain. Not to be confused with social media platform TikTok, the new TikTok compression method significantly reduces image size, making it more suitable for storage on the blockchain. Buterin highlighted TiTok's blockchain potential on decentralized social media platform Farcaster, saying "320 bits is basically a hash. Small enough for every user to get on the chain." This development may have a significant impact on the blockchain. Personal profile pictures (PFPs) and NFTs have a major impact on digital image storage.
Developed by researchers at ByteDance and the Technical University of Munich, TiTok can compress images into 32 small data blocks (bits) without losing quality. According to the TiTok research paper, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) image compression enables TiTok to compress 256x256 pixel images into "32 discrete tokens." TiTok is a one-dimensional (1D) image tagging framework that "breaks the grid limitations present in 2D tagging methods," resulting in more flexible and compact images. TiTok uses machine learning and advanced AI to convert images into tokenized representations using a transformer-based model. The method uses regional redundancy, which means it identifies and uses redundant information in different regions of the image to reduce the overall data size of the final product.
According to the research paper, TiTok’s “compact latent representation” can produce “more efficient and effective representations than traditional techniques.” Despite its similar name, social media platform TikTok has not been endorsed by Buterin. The Ethereum co-founder highlighted TiTok’s blockchain potential, adding credibility to the new AI-driven image compression method.
