#compression

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What lossy compression chooses not to keep

Lossy compression reduces file size by discarding some information according to a model of what matters for the intended result. An image format may preserve broad colour changes while reducing fine detail. The decoded image can look similar to the original, but the missing information cannot be perfectly recovered.

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compression

How lossless compression makes a file smaller without changing it

Lossless compression replaces repeated or predictable data with a more compact representation. A decoder can reconstruct the original exactly because the necessary information remains encoded. A long run of identical values might be stored as one value plus a count, although real formats often use more sophisticated methods.

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