1. A computer-implemented method for compressing a digital multi-spectral image represented by a first color space, the method comprising the steps of: (a) transforming a first set of first color space components to a plurality of second color space components; (b) compressing the second color space components; and (c) reconstructing and transforming the compressed second color space components into a second set of first color space components such that the difference between each of the first set of first color space components and the second set of first color space components is bound by a predetermined range of values.