The IFS principle can also be applied to fully general bitmap images.

For more information about compression in general, consult the comp.compression FAQ. There is even a specific answer about IFS that probably explains it all better than I've done!

Note: The above links are rather slow! However, the pages comprise the only HTML version I currently know about. You can also get a text version from src.doc.ic.ac.uk:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3