Who is MrSid?

It all started with the FBI. The FBI has fingerprint records, lots and lots of them. They wanted some way to search and have access to them. Research was conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) which involved LOTS of math which fortunately we won't go into here. A wavelet-based image standard was developed, and three patents issued. The original researchers recognized the potential of the combined technologies, and by using the US Technology Transfer Act, they established an exclusive commercialization agreement with LANL, and formed a company called LizardTech.

By combining the three patents, LizardTech introduced its first commercial product in February of 1997, and its first customer was the Library of Congress. So who is MrSid?

MrSid stands for Multiresolution Seamless Image Database. "MrSID is a powerful wavelet-based compressor, file format and image environment for massive raster images that enables instantaneous viewing and manipulation of massive images locally and over networks, while maintaining maximum image quality and manageability."

What does that mean? In a nutshell, MrSid makes really big files real small, and they look great. Another way to describe MrSid is that it allows the storage of multiple resolutions of an image seamlessly in a self-contained "database" file. It requires a browser plug-in for viewing, or a special server can send images to a standard browser.

Let's take a look!