Systems and methods for block-based fast image compression are described. In one aspect, a digital image is segmented into multiple blocks. A respective set of statistical characteristics is identified for each of the segmented blocks. Each of the blocks is encoded with a particular encoding algorithm of multiple encoding algorithms. The particular encoding algorithm that is used to encode a particular block segmented from the digital image is selected to efficiently encode the block in view of statistical characteristics associated with the block. Thus, blocks of different block types may be encoded with different encoding algorithms.