Methods for lossy and lossless pre-processing of image data. In one embodiment, a method for lossy pre-processing image data, where the method may include, at a computing device: receiving the image data, where the image data includes a model having a mesh, the mesh includes vertices defining a surface, the vertices including attribute vectors, and the attribute vectors including values. The method also including quantizing the values of the attribute vectors to produce modified values, where a precision of the modified values is determined based on a largest power determined using a largest exponent of the values, encoding pairs of the modified values into two corresponding units of information. The method also including, for each pair of the pairs of the modified values, serially storing the two corresponding units of information as a data stream into a buffer, and compressing the data stream in the buffer.