Overview

Students learn the difference between lossy and lossless compression. They then research three different real-world file formats for images and sound and compare them using the concepts and vocabulary they’ve learned through the unit.

Vocab

• Lossless Compression - a data compression algorithm that allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data.
• Lossy Compression - (or irreversible compression) a data compression method that uses inexact approximations, discarding some data to represent the content. Most commonly seen in image formats like .jpg.

Resources

• Lossy Text Compression App - App Lab

• File Formats and Compression - Activity Guide (copy as MS Word, Google Doc)