universal distribution

Universal distribution is a concept in information theory that describes how the shortest possible program (or description) can encode all possible data sequences efficiently. It assigns higher probabilities to simpler or more regular data, recognizing that some patterns are more common or easier to describe than complex ones. This idea underpins the theory of universal coding, enabling lossless data compression without prior knowledge of the data. In essence, it offers a way to model and predict data by balancing simplicity and complexity, ensuring the most efficient representation for any sequence.