Transmitting images over the wireless channel require that optimum compression ratio be maintained along with good image quality. This becomes a critical issue especially at higher values of bit error rate (BER). Joint photographic experts group (JPEG) standard and its successor JPEG 2000 provide excellent compression ratio but image reconstruction becomes highly difficult under extreme noise conditions. We present a mapping technique which gives better compression as compared to the existing techniques. Also, its performance is excellent even for higher bit error rates (BERs). This is supported by the results presented for JPEG, JPEG 2000, as well as mapping technique under fading channel conditions. Moreover, it is observed that the presence of high levels of noise has negligible effect on the reconstruction of images encoded using mapping technique.