File Compression

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What Does File Compression Mean?

File compression is a data compression method in which the logical size of a file is reduced to save disk space for easier and faster transmission over a network or the Internet. It enables the creation of a version of one or more files with the same data at a size substantially smaller than the original file.

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File compression is also known as file zipping.

Techopedia Explains File Compression

File compression is enabled through a file or data compression software that creates a compressed version of each processed file. Typically, file compression works by scanning an entire file, identifying similar or repetitive data and patterns and replacing duplicates with a unique identifier. This identifier is usually much smaller in size than the original word and consumes less space. Thus, the size of the compressed file is considerably smaller.

Although there is no exact measurement of the actual reduced size of the compressed file, file compression reduces a file’s size by 50 to 90 percent

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.