A method for estimating the throughput and the distortion of at least one image compressed using at least one wavelet transform operation delivering at least one sub-band b (202a, 202b, 202c, 202d) containing coefficients, said sub-band being subdivided into at least one packet of coefficients associated with a compression quality layer c, said packet being intended to be transmitted through a propagation channel, said method comprising at least the following steps: a step of estimating the distortion D b c associated with the compression of the coefficients of said packet; a step of estimating the compression throughput L b of said sub-band b; a step of estimating the distortion D b ′ c associated with the corruption or the loss of said packet during the transmission thereof through said propagation channel, as follows: if the lost packet is associated with an enhancement quality layer, then the distortion D b ′ c is equal to the compression distortion D b ′ c i − 1 of a correctly transmitted lower quality layer; if the lost packet is associated with a base layer, then the distortion D b ′ c equals D b ′ c = D b ′ T b T b c, where D b ′ is the corruption distortion of said sub-band b, T b is the number of coefficients of said sub-band b and T b c is the number of coefficients contained in the block code of index c of said sub-band b; a step of estimating the sensitivity D ̃ b c of said packet as a function of the distortions D b c and D b ′ c; a step of estimating the distortion of said image associated with the decompression of said packet on the basis of its sensitivity D ̃ b c. a step of estimating the distortion D b c associated with the compression of the coefficients of said packet; a step of estimating the compression throughput L b of said sub-band b; a step of estimating the distortion D b ′ c associated with the corruption or the loss of said packet during the transmission thereof through said propagation channel, as follows: if the lost packet is associated with an enhancement quality layer, then the distortion D b ′ c is equal to the compression distortion D b ′ c i − 1 of a correctly transmitted lower quality layer; if the lost packet is associated with a base layer, then the distortion D b ′ c equals D b ′ c = D b ′ T b T b c, where D b ′ is the corruption distortion of said sub-band b, T b is the number of coefficients of said sub-band b and T b c is the number of coefficients contained in the block code of index c of said sub-band b; a step of estimating the sensitivity D ̃ b c of said packet as a function of the distortions D b c and D b ′ c; a step of estimating the distortion of said image associated with the decompression of said packet on the basis of its sensitivity D ̃ b c. if the lost packet is associated with an enhancement quality layer, then the distortion D b ′ c is equal to the compression distortion D b ′ c i − 1 of a correctly transmitted lower quality layer; if the lost packet is associated with a base layer, then the distortion D b ′ c equals D b ′ c = D b ′ T b T b c, where D b ′ is the corruption distortion of said sub-band b, T b is the number of coefficients of said sub-band b and T b c is the number of coefficients contained in the block code of index c of said sub-band b; a step of estimating the sensitivity D ̃ b c of said packet as a function of the distortions D b c and D b ′ c; a step of estimating the distortion of said image associated with the decompression of said packet on the basis of its sensitivity D ̃ b c.