What is lossless compression and when to use it

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Using images, videos, and other files can improve the quality of your blog posts and the look of your WordPress website. However, including too many “heavy” elements can slow down your site and affect its overall performance. Fortunately, lossless compression can reduce file size without compromising quality.

In this guide, we will look at lossless compression and when you should use it. Then we will see how to apply this compression method to your images and files.

Let's get started!

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What is lossless compression?
Lossless compression can reduce file size by removing and bolivia phone number data redundant data . This method can reduce files without affecting their overall quality. It is also completely reversible.

Lossless data compression uses an algorithm that looks for word repetitions, patterns, and other unnecessary data. It then replaces this information with numbers and stores the original data in a separate index file.

It also removes metadata from your images. Therefore, this compression method creates smaller files without discarding additional information.

Lossless compression is best suited for photos with transparent backgrounds and images with a lot of text. These are the most common lossless file formats:

Portable Network Graphics (PNG)
Graphics Interchange Format (GIF)
Compressed files (ZIP)
Raw images (RAW)
Bitmap image file (BMP)
Additionally, lossless compression is increasingly being used for audio files. Streaming giants Spotify, Apple Music, and TIDAL use this method to speed up content loading without reducing the quality of the music.

Why should you use lossless compression?
As mentioned above, lossless compression uses an algorithm to compress image formats and other file types. These are some of the most common algorithms used:

Huffman Coding : This algorithm assigns different values ​​to characters and their frequencies.
Arithmetic encoding : Encodes the entire file as a series of characters with symbols assigned to them.
Run-length encoding : Looks for character repetitions in the code, then encodes them into smaller bytes.
These compression methods reduce files without damaging their quality. You can also restore files to their original size because of their indexed data. Therefore, lossless contrasts with lossy compression, which causes irreversible changes to images and other media files.

Image compression is essential to improving your site’s performance. For starters, leaner images improve page load times. This is one of Google’s key ranking factors in determining where to place your content in search engine results pages (SERPs) .

Google uses a set of metrics called Core Web Vitals . The following two metrics are relevant for images on your website:

First Contentful Paint (FCP) . FCP measures how long it takes to display the first element on your page. This could be a text element or an image. If your site needs to load an image or other media file first, using lossless compression will speed up the loading time for your users.
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) . This measures how long it takes to display the largest on your page. This will likely be one of your images. Therefore, if your photo has a smaller file size, your LCP score will be better.
Smaller images aren't just important for SEO . They're also essential for user experience (UX). If your pages load slowly, readers may become frustrated and leave your website.

Finally, lossless compression maintains the quality of the image. Therefore, using it will not make the graphics on your website appear grainy or blurry. As such, this compression method can help your site appear professional to your readers.

2 Ways to Apply Lossless Compression to Your Images
You can use a few different methods to apply lossless compression to your images. Some of these strategies occur within the WordPress dashboard, while others rely on external software. Let's take a look at two different compression options!

1. Use an image compression plugin
Some WordPress image optimization plugins can compress your images with the lossless method. Using a plugin is a quick and easy option, as the tool can apply compression to your entire website. Therefore, you will not have to manually edit each image, which can be time-consuming.

We recommend using the Imagify plugin to compress your images. It has multiple compression levels built-in and works for a wide range of image types: