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Lossless vs Lossy Compression: What Should You Choose?

  • Writer: Anvita Shrivastava
    Anvita Shrivastava
  • 12 hours ago
  • 3 min read

As we continue to evolve in our global society dominated by large amounts of digital information, such as high-resolution visual data, there is no longer any choice regarding the use of compression; whether you are dealing with remote sensing images; medical image data; multimedia content; or other forms of digital data the right selection of compression scheme will greatly affect your entire processing system in terms of cost savings, performance and quality of the digital image that you have stored.


Lossless vs Lossy Compression
Lossless vs Lossy Compression


What Is Data Compression?


Reducing the physical size of a file through compression essentially means putting the data back together so that it's compressed into a smaller amount of space. The purpose of doing this is to help with storing data more effectively, increasing the speed at which it can be retrieved from storage media, and also to enhance the overall performance of apps, without compromising usability.


There are two primary categories of compression techniques:


  • Lossless compression – all original data is included

  • Lossy compression – some of the original data is removed in order to create a greater compression ratio.


When accuracy of the data or integrity are important, understanding these two types of compression will be very important!


Lossless Compression Explained


Lossless compression can make files smaller, and still allow for complete and accurate retrieval of original data — this means that there’s no loss of information through this type of compression.


Advantages to Lossless Compression


  • Full original data integrity

  • Can reverse compression

  • Not as much compression ratio as lossy compression

  • Is an excellent choice for data analysis, and data that will be archived


Examples of Use


  • GIS images and reseach in the field of geospatial data

  • Medical or technical imaging

  • Data that must comply with legal requirements

  • Archival storage


Lossless compression is the benchmark for type of compression in industries where data accuracy is critical.


Lossy Compression Explained


Lossy compression achieves much smaller file sizes by permanently removing data that is considered less important—often data that may be visually imperceptible to the human eye.


Key Characteristics of Lossy Compression


  • Some data loss is expected

  • Irreversible compression

  • Much higher compression ratios

  • Optimized for visualization and distribution


Common Use Cases


  • Web and mobile imagery

  • Streaming media

  • Rapid image delivery

  • Visualization-focused applications


When performance, speed, and storage efficiency matter more than pixel‑perfect accuracy, lossy compression is often the best choice.


Lossless vs Lossy Compression: Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature

Lossless Compression

Lossy Compression

Data Integrity

Fully preserved

Partially discarded

File Size Reduction

Moderate

High

Reversible

Yes

No

Best For

Analysis, archiving

Visualization, distribution

Choosing the Right Compression for Geospatial Imagery


Due to different aspects of both their size and resolution, along with how they are processed or analyzed, using geospatial imagery has unique challenges; thus, the method chosen to use the geospatial data will determine which compression method will be used.


  • Imagery that supports measurement, classification, and/or regulatory decisions should be compressed in a lossless format.

  • Imagery whose primary usage is for visualization, mapping, and/or fast access should be compressed using a lossy method.


Many organizations utilize a mixed use of compression, keeping lossless versions of all of their data, along with providing lossy versions of the data for their day-to-day activities.


MrSID: Optimized for High-Performance Imagery


LizardTech has developed an industry-standard compression format for large raster images, called MrSID (Multipurpose & Scalable Image Data). 


Advantages of MrSID:


  • Provides both lossy and lossless compression.

  • Provides fast access to large images.

  • Maintains geospatial accuracy.

  • Suitable for aerial, satellite, and raster GIS Data.


MrSID lets you balance quality of images vs. size of files for your project needs without losing performance.


GeoExpress: Powerful Compression Made Simple


GeoExpress is the desktop program offered by LizardTech to compress (and decompress) spatial images.


Benefits of using GeoExpress:


  • Compression using lossless or lossy for creating MrSID files.

  • Ability to control quality and ratio of compression.

  • Optimization of images for storage, streaming, and/or distribution.

  • Fidelity of spatial accuracy and metadata integrity.


Using GeoExpress allows organizations to greatly reduce costs associated with storing images and maintain data to meet their requirements.


There is no one‑size‑fits‑all answer to the lossless vs lossy compression debate. The right choice depends on your workflow, data sensitivity, and performance needs.


With tools like MrSID and GeoExpress, LizardTech empowers organizations to make the right compression choice—without compromise.


For more information or any questions regarding the LizardTech suite of products, please don't hesitate to contact us at:



USA (HQ): (720) 702–4849


(A GeoWGS84 Corp Company)

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