ZPE-Image

What This Is

ZPE-Image is a deterministic sparse-stroke image encoder — one of 17 independent encoding products in the Zer0pa portfolio. It encodes bounded sparse figures (glyphs, flow graphs, mazes, structural skeletons) at the geometry layer rather than the pixel layer, keeping what matters and discarding what doesn't. Broad natural-image coverage is out of scope by design.

Two routes ship: a primary sparse-stroke route and a narrower hole-bearing bundle route for exactly three hole-bearing forms. Both are CI-falsified.

Field	Value
Architecture	IMAGE_STREAM
Encoding	IMAGE_SPARSE_GEOMETRY_V1

Strongest intrinsic result (CI-anchored, no external baseline): 5.75× byte reduction on the five accepted sparse figures versus the internal quadtree-enhanced fallback, with 100% accept and reject rates and perturbation floors clearing documented thresholds.

Key Metrics

Metric	Value	Baseline	Notes
SPARSE_ACCEPTS	5/5	bounded pack	100% positive-accept rate
REJECT_RATE	100%	7 retained negatives	mixed + natural-image buckets
SPARSE_WORST_PERTURB_IOU	0.632	floor threshold ≥0.62	worst case: maze_turns under salt-pepper
SPARSE_WORST_PERTURB_SKELETON_F1	0.741	floor threshold ≥0.74	worst case: glyph_a under salt-pepper
SPARSE_MEAN_BYTES	1,362	7,839 quadtree baseline	5.75× byte reduction on accepted figures
BUNDLE_ACCEPTS	3/3	hole-bearing subset	projection IoU = 1.0 under all perturbations
BUNDLE_MEAN_BYTES	3,655	8,459 quadtree baseline	2.31× byte reduction on bundle route

Source: proofs/artifacts/fresh_falsification_packet.json, validation/results/fresh_falsification_check.json Baseline is ZPE-Image's internal quadtree-enhanced codec. No external codec (JPEG/WebP/AVIF/JPEG-XL) comparison exists in this pack — Image is a no-external-comp lane.

What We Prove

• The primary sparse-stroke route accepts glyph_a, fork_tree, loop_spine, maze_turns, and serpentine, and rejects all 7 retained mixed and natural-image negatives on the same verification pack.
• Under four perturbation types (dilate_1, salt_pepper_1pct, shift_x1, shift_y1) the worst-case reconstruction IoU is 0.632 and worst-case skeleton F1 is 0.741, both clearing their documented thresholds (0.62 and 0.74 respectively).
• On accepted sparse figures the geometry-sparse-stroke encoder uses a mean of 1,362 bytes (20-bit packed) versus 7,839 bytes for the quadtree-enhanced fallback — a 5.75× byte reduction within this bounded scope.
• The narrower hole-bearing bundle route accepts exactly glyph_a, loop_spine, and maze_turns; fork_tree and serpentine are correctly outside that subset. Bundle projection IoU = 1.0 and skeleton F1 = 1.0 under all perturbations for all three accepted cases.

What We Don't Claim

• No photo, texture, gradient, or broad natural-image coverage.
• The hole-bearing route does not cover the full sparse set.
• Bounded acceptance on this pack does not equal general image coverage.
• No external codec comparison (JPEG/WebP/AVIF/JPEG-XL) — baselines are internal only.

Commercial Readiness

Field	Value
Verdict	STAGED
Posture	ready_for_publication_review
Verification Status	fresh_falsification_ready
Commit SHA	c1ed7abaa560
Source	validation/results/fresh_falsification_check.json

Tests and Verification

Code	Check	Verdict
V_01	Primary sparse route accepts the five bounded sparse figures.	PASS
V_02	Primary sparse route rejects the mixed and natural-image buckets.	PASS
V_03	Sparse perturbation floors stay above documented thresholds (IoU ≥0.62, skeleton F1 ≥0.74).	PASS
V_04	Secondary hole-bearing route accepts exactly 3/5 positives; rejects out-of-scope positives.	PASS
V_05	Installed package imports and runs without sibling runtime dependencies.	PASS
V_06	Root repo surface ships with Zer0pa Source-Available License v7.0.	PASS

Run: pytest -q — exercises V_01–V_06 via tests/test_verification.py and tests/test_readme_contract.py.

Proof Anchors

Path	State
proofs/manifests/CURRENT_VERIFICATION_PACKET.md	VERIFIED
proofs/artifacts/fresh_falsification_packet.json	VERIFIED
validation/results/fresh_falsification_check.json	VERIFIED

Repo Shape

Field	Value
Proof Anchors	3
Authority Source	proofs/artifacts/fresh_falsification_packet.json
Runtime Package	src/zpe_image_codec

Quick Start

python3 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
python3 -m pip install '.[dev]'
zpe-image-verify --output validation/results/fresh_falsification_check.local.json
pytest -q

Upcoming Workstreams

This section captures the active lane priorities — what the next agent or contributor picks up, and what investors should expect. Cadence is continuous, not milestoned.

• External comparator integration — Active Engineering. Add gzipped-SVG and PNG-of-render-at-fixed-quality comparators to the proof artifact; report both, let reviewer pick. Removes the no-market-reference-frame gap on the current 5.75× CR claim (currently measured only against an internal quadtree fallback).