A method for applying a filter to data to improve data quality and/or reduce file size. In one example, a region of interest of an image is identified. A histogram is generated of pixel intensity values in the region of interest. The histogram is iteratively updated to focus (zoom) in on the highest peak in the histogram. A Gaussian curve is fitted to the updated histogram. A bilateral filter is applied to the images, where parameters of the bilateral filter are based on the parameters of the Gaussian curve.