1.3.3 Data Compression
1.3.3 Data Compression
3 DATA COMPRESSION
The calculations in the previous section show that sound and image
files can be very large. It is therefore necessary to reduce (or
compress) the size of a file for the following reasons:
» to save storage space on devices such as the hard disk drive/solid
state drive
» to reduce the time taken to stream a music or video file » to reduce
the time taken to upload, download or transfer a file across a network
1.3.3 DATA COMPRESSION
Lossy files are smaller than lossless files which is of great benefit
when considering storage and data transfer rate requirements.
Common lossy file compression algorithms are:
» MPEG-3 (MP3) and MPEG-4 (MP4)
» JPEG.
LOSSY FILE COMPRESSION
MP4 files are slightly different to MP3 files. This format allows the
storage of multimedia files rather than just sound – music, videos,
photos and animation can all be stored in the MP4 format. As with
MP3, this is a lossy file compression format, but it still retains an
acceptable quality of sound and video. Movies, for example, could be
streamed over the internet using the MP4 format without losing any
real discernible quality.
LOSSY FILE COMPRESSION
With this technique, all the data from the original uncompressed file
can be reconstructed. This is particularly important for files where any
loss of data would be disastrous (e.g. when transferring a large and
complex spreadsheet or when downloading a large computer
application).
LOSSLESS FILE COMPRESSION
the letter ‘F’ in a grid where each square requires 1 byte of storage. A
white square has a value 1 and a black square a value of 0:
LOSSLESS FILE COMPRESSION
see object in four colours. Each colour is made up of red, green and
blue (RGB) according to the code on the right.
LOSSLESS FILE COMPRESSION
The RLE code has 92 values, which means the compressed file
will be 92 bytes in size. This gives a file reduction of about 52%.
It should be noted that the file reductions in reality will not be as
large as this due to other data which needs to be stored with the
compressed file (e.g. a file header).
LOSSLESS FILE COMPRESSION
0478/11/M/J/1 Q4
LOSSLESS FILE COMPRESSION
0478/11/M/J/1 Q4