Algorithms For Dummies

AN EXAMPLE OF LOSSY  

COMPRESSION BENEFITS

An example of the difference that lossy compression can make is in photography. 

A raw formatted picture file contains all the information originally provided by the cam-

era’s sensor, so it doesn’t include any sort of compression. When working with a certain 

camera, you might find that this file consumes 29.8MB of hard drive space. A raw file 

often uses the .raw file extension to show that no processing has occurred. Opening the 

file and saving it as a lossy .jpeg might result in a file size of only 3.7 MB, but with a cor-

responding loss of detail. To save some of the detail but obtain some savings in file size 

as well, you might choose to use the .jpeg file format. In this case, the file size might be 

12.4MB, which represents a good compromise in file size savings to loss of image data.

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  PART 4