For a cell phone with a 2-gigabyte data plan using text messages, images, video, and music:
- Best compressed with lossless compression: Text messages and certain types of images. Lossless compression preserves all original data exactly, which is critical for text to avoid any loss or alteration of information. Some images, especially graphics, logos, or images requiring high fidelity without quality loss, benefit from lossless compression to maintain image quality.
- Best compressed with lossy compression: Video, music, and many photographic images. Lossy compression reduces file sizes by removing some data that is less perceptible to human senses, making it effective for multimedia like videos and audio, where a slight quality loss is acceptable for significantly smaller file sizes. Photographic images also commonly use lossy compression to save space while maintaining visually acceptable quality.
Why?
- Lossless compression retains all original data, which is essential for textual data to ensure no errors or information is lost. It also suits images where every detail matters, such as detailed graphics or professional photos.
- Lossy compression leverages human perception limits to discard some data (like subtle colors in images or audio frequencies in music) that are less noticeable, achieving much higher compression rates suitable for video, music, and everyday photos where perfect fidelity is not as critical.
Thus, text and sensitive images are best with lossless compression for accuracy, while video, music, and most images are best with lossy compression for efficient data usage under limited data plans.