Method and apparatus for maximizing data storage in a processor of image data

An apparatus and method for processing image data operates in a high capacity mode or a high quality mode. In the former a single bit per pixel is created and processed along one of two identical processing paths. The processing paths involve compression, buffering and expansion for output to a writer interface. The processing path selected for pixels in each image frame is in accordance with the most available buffering memory. In the latter mode two bits per pixel, a more significant bit (MSB) and a less significant bit (LSB) are created and processed simultaneously along the two processing paths. The processing path for each is selected in accordance with the LSBs being processed by the processing path with the most available memory. As compression of the LSBs is not as efficient as that of the MSBs, the number of document pages stored in the compression buffers is maximized.