What is the advantage of lossless compression?

The advantage of lossless compression is that it allows files to be opened and recompressed repeatedly without any loss of data. This means that the original quality and integrity of the data are preserved after decompression. This is particularly important for certain types of files, such as text documents, software applications, and some image formats, where losing even a small amount of data could render the file unusable or degrade its quality.

Lossless compression algorithms compress data in a way that allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed. This makes it essential for applications where fidelity is crucial. For example, in professional audio or video editing, maintaining the exact quality of the original files is paramount, and lossless compression ensures that this is achieved regardless of how many times the files are compressed or decompressed.

While faster file transfers, smaller file sizes, and lower energy consumption can be associated with various types of data handling techniques, they do not encapsulate the core advantage of lossless compression, which is its ability to preserve the original data completely upon each operation.