What is Compression?
Compression, by definition, is the process by which data is reduced into a form that minimizes the space required to store or transmit it. So in other words, it makes big files smaller so they download faster.
Why is image compression important?
Compression is important because not everyone has a High-Speed Internet connection. Everyday, more and more, people are taking photo's with digital cameras and are emailing them to friends and family or posting them to web sites. Unfortunatly many people don't realize the importance of compressing their images before deploying them across the Internet.
For example, examine the two images below. The image on the left has not been compressed, while the image on the right has been compressed with only a light amount of compression. They may look exactly the same, but the image on the left will take much longer to download than the image on the right.
Uncompressed Photo |
Compressed Photo |
This image is about 41K in size and will take around 10-15 seconds to download on a Dialup Internet connection. |
This image is about 8K in size and will take around 2-3 seconds to download on a Dialup Internet connection. |
