What are compressed and uncompressed files, how does it all work and why compressed files take less storage?

Question

What are compressed and uncompressed files, how does it all work and why compressed files take less storage?

In: Technology

Answer 1

Yesterday I had to tell a customer service representative my account number over the phone: [phone].

I could have said “zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-nine-three-two” but I said “six zeroes nine-three-two.” It was quicker that way.

Sometimes describing a number can be quicker than saying the whole thing. That’s what file compression does, with more math; it finds ways to describe what is in a file that take less time and space than reading out every one and zero. In the same way we would say “the sky in this picture is blue,” software can describe part of a picture as “this pixel is color 000256000 and the next 732 pixels are too.”