In image processing, an epitome is a condensed digital representation of ordered datasets, such as matrices representing images, audio signals, videos, or genetic sequences. Although much smaller than the epitomized data, the epitome contains many of the smaller overlapping parts of the data with much less repetition and with some level of generalization. As such, it can be used for data mining and other machine learning and signal processing tasks. The first use of epitomic analysis was performed on image textures[1] and was used for image parsing. The epitome model has also been applied to videos.[2] Filling in missing parts of a video, removing objects from a scene and performing video super-resolution are examples of tasks in which the video epitome has proven useful.
Epitomes are also being investigated as tools for rational vaccine design.