{{Short description|Lossless data compression method}}
'''Golomb coding''' is a [[lossless data compression]] method using a family of [[data compression]] codes invented by [[Solomon W. Golomb]] in the 1960s. Alphabets following a [[geometric distribution]] will have a Golomb code as an optimal [[prefix code]],<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Gallager | first1 = R. G. |last2 = van Voorhis |first2 = D. C.| title = Optimal source codes for geometrically distributed integer alphabets | journal = [[IEEE Transactions on Information Theory]]| volume = 21 | issue = 2 | pages = 228–230 | year = 1975 | doi=10.1109/tit.1975.1055357}}</ref> making Golomb coding highly suitable for situations in which the occurrence of small values in the input stream is significantly more likely than large values.
