Abstract. This paper introduces a modified set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) algorithm that reduces the number of comparison operations and, consequently, the execution time needed to encode an image as compared to the SPIHT algorithm. The threshold of each independent subband is calculated after applying the discrete wavelet transform to the image. Scanning of the sets inside the subbands is determined by the magnitude of the thresholds that establishes a hierarchical scanning not only for the set of coefficients with larger magnitude, but also for the subbands. The algorithm uses the set partitioning technique to sort the transform coefficients. Results show that the modified SPIHT significantly reduces the number of operations and the execution time without sacrificing visual quality and the PSNR of the recovered image. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.