Lossy

Lossy is a data encoding and compression technique that deliberately discards some data in the compression process. The lossy compression method filters and discards needless and redundant data to reduce the amount of data being compressed and later being executed on a computer.

Lossy is derived from the word loss, which defines the primary objective of this technique.

Lossy data compression is primarily used for digital multimedia, such as audio, video, images and streaming data. By using lossy, the sizes of these data types can be reduced much further, which ensures easy delivery over the Internet or for offline use.

Lossy works by eliminating unnecessary or additional information contained in most multimedia files. For example, a JPEG image can be reduced by up to 80 percent of its original size without substantially affecting image quality. This can be achieved by decreasing the number of pixels, brightness and color density. Similarly, background audio sounds are removed in MP3 and MPEG without creating much difference in the end-user experience.