Skip to Content
Beginning Programming ALL-IN-ONE DESK REFERENCE FOR DUMMIES®
book

Beginning Programming ALL-IN-ONE DESK REFERENCE FOR DUMMIES®

by Wallace Wang
June 2008
Beginner
695 pages
14h 9m
English
For Dummies
Content preview from Beginning Programming ALL-IN-ONE DESK REFERENCE FOR DUMMIES®

Chapter IV.4. Data Compression Algorithms

The main idea behind data compression is to shrink information, which takes up less space. Not only does compressed data take up less storage space, but it also takes less time to transfer.

Here are two types of data compression algorithms - lossless and lossy.

With lossless compression, the algorithm can compress the data without losing any information, which is used for archiving and compressing multiple files into a single file, such as a ZIP archive. Think of lossless compression as a way to pack existing data more efficiently, like refolding clothes to make them fit in a suitcase.

With lossy compression, the algorithm actually loses some information to compress data. Typically, this lost information isn't noticed anyway. The most common examples of lossy compression involve MP3 audio files and video files. When compressing audio, the MP3 standard throws out the audio parts that the human ear can't distinguish. When compressing video, compression algorithms toss out colors that the human eye doesn't notice. By throwing out information, lossy compression algorithms can save space, much like throwing away clothes to make packing the remaining clothes in a suitcase easier.

Because lossy compression throws out data, it can compress the same data much smaller than lossless compression. However, lossy compression has only limited use. You wouldn't want to use lossy compression when storing documents because you can't afford to lose any data, for ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

Designing Data-Intensive Applications, 2nd Edition

Designing Data-Intensive Applications, 2nd Edition

Martin Kleppmann, Chris Riccomini

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780470108543Purchase book