[ Thanks to LinuxLinks for this link.
]
“Data compression is the process of storing data in a
format that uses less space than the original representation would
use. Compressing data can be very useful particularly in the field
of communications as it enables devices to transmit or store data
in fewer bits. Besides reducing transmission bandwidth, compression
increases the amount of information that can be stored on a hard
disk drive or other storage device.“There are two main types of compression. Lossy compression is a
data encoding method which reduces a file by discarding certain
information. When the file is uncompressed, not all of the original
information will be recovered. Lossy compression is typically used
to compress video, audio and images, as well as internet telephony.
The fact that information is lost during compression will often be
unnoticeable to most users. Lossy compression techniques are used
in all DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and most multimedia available on the
internet.”