Abstract: In this paper we introduce a new compressed representation for the connectivity of a triangle mesh. We present local compression and decompression algorithms which are fast enough for real time applications. The achieved space compression rates keep pace with the best rates reported for any known global compression algorithm. These nice properties have great benefits for several important applications. Naturally, the technique can be used to compress triangle meshes without significant delay before they are stored on external devices or transmitted over a network. The presented decompression algorithm is very simple allowing a possible hardware realization of the decompression algorithm which could significantly increase the rendering speed of pipelined graphics hardware.