A method of storing a digital image in a computer memory includes providing a N-dimensional digital image, defining an offset for each image element (x1, . . . , xN) by the formula offset ⁡ ( x 1 , … ⁢   , x N ) = ∑ i ⁢   ⁢ ∑ n = 1 N ⁢   ⁢ K x n ⁡ ( i ) ⁢ x ni , where i is summed over all bits and n is summed over all dimensions. The coefficient K for the ith bit of the nth dimension is defined as K x n ⁡ ( i ) = ( ∏ j = 1 n - 1 ⁢   ⁢ f ⁡ ( x j , 2 i + 1 , sx j ) ) ⁢ 2 i ⁢ ( ∏ j = n + 1 N ⁢   ⁢ f ⁡ ( x j , 2 i , sx j ) ) , where xj is the jth dimension, f(x,G,sxj)=min(G,sxj−└x┘G) G is a power of 2, sxj represents the size associated with a given dimension, and └x┘G=x−x mod G. Image elements are stored in the computer memory in an order defined by the offset of each image element.