Abstract: An image compression system includes a source, a memory, a personality/graphics engine having a personality and a graphics engine, a memory allocator and an image processor. The source is operative to supply digital data representative of images. The memory has a finite size for receiving the digital data. The personality is configured to interpret an input file and is operative to construct image patches from the digital data. The graphics engine is operative to generate a display list from the memory. The memory allocator is associated with the memory and is operative to allocate image patches. The image processor includes a JPEG compressor and a JPEG decompressor. The image processor is operative to render the display list into strip buffers. The JPEG compressor is operative to JPEG compress images on the display list. The JPEG decompressor is operative to decompress compressed images on the display list.