Data Compression
Data compression is a technique that reduces the size of data files by encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation, enabling more efficient storage and transmission. It works by eliminating redundancy, exploiting patterns, or approximating data, and is categorized into lossless compression (preserving all original data) and lossful compression (sacrificing some data for higher compression ratios). This concept is fundamental in computing, multimedia, networking, and data management systems.
Developers should learn data compression to optimize performance and resource usage in applications involving large datasets, such as file storage, database management, web content delivery, and real-time communication. It is essential for reducing bandwidth costs, improving load times, and enabling efficient data processing in fields like big data analytics, video streaming, and IoT devices, where space and speed are critical constraints.