Lossy Compression Technique: Meaning And Uses
Lossy compression is a method of compressing data (digital multimedia) and then decompressing it to retrieve the data, though the decompressed one may be slightly different than the original one. Lossy compression method is used to compress multimedia data comprising of digital audio, video and still images. Although, digital still images do not need to be compressed, still lossy method serves as an important compression tool for it, especially for websites that have number of images.
If a digital image is compressed using lossy technique, the decompressed format certainly suffers from generation loss. Thus, if an image is repeatedly compressed and then decompressed, it will lose quality. But, for digital images, a minor change in color or might be unnoticeable. If an original photograph and decompressed photographs are placed side by side, you will hardly notice any changes.
Technically, lossy method increases similar pixel pattern to match other pixel patterns, thus allowing an efficient compression technique. This technique is a good way to squeeze extra bytes out of PNG and GIF image formats.
It is very important to note that there is a difference between lossy methods and lossless methods. Lossless compression is not used for image files but is usually applied to text files and other files.
Lossy technique is extensively used in web designing and development field, especially if a website boasts rich multimedia content comprising of digital images and streaming video. Web design and development experts use lossy compression software to compress images. The software is set to different compression levels based on how much data is allowed to be removed.
Generally, website design companies in UK employ JPEG images. But lossy compression is used for larger file sizes, especially for reducing the file size of bitmap pr portable network graphic pictures, which tend to fairly larger than JPEG images.
Lossy compression technique is not recommended for anything that needs to be reproduced exactly. These include databases, software applications and audio.
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I am the webmaster at www.synapsewebsolutions.co.uk ' a Web design and development offering quality and cost-efficient offshore website design and development solutions.