term

Lossy compression

Shrinking a file by discarding data the eye barely notices.

Lossy algorithms drop subtle differences in brightness and colour. The file gets much smaller, but the original data cannot be restored, and every re-save degrades the image further.

Related articles

formatJPG

JPG file format: extension, MIME type and available conversion directions.

termLossless compression

Reducing file size while keeping the data byte-for-byte recoverable.

termRaster graphics

An image stored as a grid of pixels, each with its own colour.