A new codebook design algorithm is proposed for vector quantization image coding based on the ant colony optimization.Inspired by the ability of real ants to find the shortest path through the laying down of pheromone and to cluster corpse in the nest through the picking-up and dropping of small objects by individual ant

we proposed the ant clustering based codebook design algorithm with emphasis on the appropriate design of the dropping probability

the tabu list as well as the way pheromone was updated

and the determination of the corresponding parameters.Experimental results are very encouraging and it is found that the new algorithm outperforms the latest evolutionary simulated annealing and stochastic competitive vector quantization codebook design

the improvement of pixel signal-to-noise ratio exceeds 2dB compared with the conventional LBG algorithm.