How to write a stream using a 3 symbol alphabet into a normal bitstream?

Question

I have a three symbol alphabet which i would like to convert to a bit
stream.
The intuitive way of using two bits per symbol would introduce an
unused 2 bit combination that will unecessarily inflate the bit
stream.
I am wondering what methods exist to let me use 1.5 bits per symbol?
On average the probabilities of each symbol are: 0.25, 0.375, 0.375.
In my mind this would equate to bit lengths of 1.248, 0.873, 0.873
I understand Artihmetic Coding uses non integer bits to represent its
codes. I have been trying to understand how Arithmetic Codes does it
so i can use/modify its method to my case... however comprehension is
eluding me :( could someone explain it in more layman terms?

Answer 1

I agree that will work, infact i am/was using huffman codes... however in my particular case it is not close to the optimal bit length due to the fact that for huffman codes the codes have to be of integer length bits. This is because i have two equal 'high' probablilities (0.375) and only the one 'low' probablility (0.25) and thus the huffman codes would be:
0 (0.375) -> 01
1 (0.375) -> 10
2 (0.25) -> 11
And thus still need the 2 bits to encode each symbol. If the probabilities were much different then huffman coding may work , however with the realativley close probablilites there is no saving of the bits :(