Lossy

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A lossy compression algorithm (as opposed to a lossless algorithm) achieves its space savings by sacrificing the least critical portions of data. A lossy compression algorithm is not fully revisible, and decompression will not result in an exact copy of the original data. However, lossy algorithms are still of great use to us, as often the results of compression/uncompression are indistinguishable to the human eye (as in JPEG files) or ear (as in MP3 files). Some examples of lossy compression algorithms are:

  • JPEG image compression.
  • Vorbis compression, used in Ogg sound/music files.
  • MP3 compression
  • DivX compression, used in various movie file formats.


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External Links

Wikipedia's Lossy Data Compression Article

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