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DATA COMPRESSION: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

ADVANTAGES OF DATA COMPRESSION:

Less disk space (more data in reality) (*)

Faster writing and reading (*)

Faster file transfer

Variable dynamic range

Byte order independent

* To obtain these advantages the compression and decompression must be carried out directly by writing and reading programs e.g. AS PART OF A STANDARD FILE FORMAT

DISADVANTAGES OF DATA COMPRESSION:

Added complication

Effect of errors in transmission

Slower for sophisticated methods (but simple methods can be faster for writing to disk.)

``Unknown'' byte / pixel relationship (+)

Need to decompress all previous data (+)

+ Stripping, or tiling, or look-up tables can partially overcome these problems