QuickTime 4 Reference

About the Base Image Decompressor

Whenever possible, an image decompressor component should handle asynchronous requests for decompression, as described in "Asynchronous Decompression" (page 223) . If you are implementing an image decompressor component, you can include this capability with a minimum of additional programming by using the services of the base image decompressor. The base image decompressor handles the necessary scheduling, which frees you to concentrate on the details of decompression.

When you use the base image decompressor with an image decompressor component, your component must support functions that are called by the base image decompressor when necessary. Your component can then delegate a number of other function calls to the base image decompressor, which greatly simplifies the implementation of your component.