nx_codec_rd_gate.nx

nx_codec_rd_gate.nx -- SOVEREIGN measured RATE-DISTORTION head-to-head: our patent-free rANS entropy coder vs JPEG's Huffman, on the IDENTICAL DCT-quantized coefficients at IDENTICAL quality. Both losslessly encode the same per-block zigzag quantized coefficients (same image, same nx_dct8 + same Annex-K quant @ Q50) -> reconstruction is provably identical, so this is a pure rate-at-equal-distortion comparison that isolates the ONE thing that differs: the entropy coder. No python, no 3rd party. This is the measurement that flips nx_codec_exceed's compression axis from MEASURED-PENDING to an EARNED grade -- and it is reported HONESTLY whichever way it lands (the gate verifies the grade matches the measured sizes, and a liar-kill proves a loss can't be graded a win). T1 JPEG entropy lossless (decode recovers the coeffs) T2 rANS entropy lossless (decode recovers bytes) T3 both coders fed identical coefficients (equal quality by construction) T4 measurement valid (both sizes computed > 0) T5 grade matches the measured sizes (honest) T6 liar-kill: more-bytes can NOT be graded a win GREEN iff 6/6. knowledge/status/codec_rd_gate.log. license_tier: ORIGINAL