Media Compression

 

Before I watched my designated blog videos, I didn’t really know a lot about “Media Compression” I knew what the word compression meant but I didn’t understand how much is involved in compressing media files. The overall aim of media compression is to reduce the file size and save space, specifically image, audio, and video files. (Techquickie, 2014)

          A lot of image formats use some type of condensing The three most popular are PNG, GIF, and JPEG. JPEG compression is mostly used for digital photos, it uses a  lossy compression process that averages colours and eliminates colour differences that are concealed by the human eye. GIF compression decreases the colour palette of images to less than 256 colours.PNG compressions comprises a lossless expression that filters the image information and forecasts colours from pixels nearby. Each of these systems works differently but they can all be used to condense the size of an uncompressed image.

          Audio file formats also need to be compressed to save disk space, audio formats like MP3 and M4A use compression software that deletes inaudible frequencies and decrease the dynamic range of sounds. AIFF and WAVE uncompressed audio files take up too much disk space so they are often cut down to MP3 or M4A files before they can be used for example in YouTube on the internet. Audio files are usually reduced by ninety per cent of the initial audio file but are still very high sound quality.

          Many video files are compressed, there are lots of video formats like DivX using a specific codec and MPEG. Using an algorithm each codec reduces irrelevant data from the video. Take for example if you had an unchanging background the codec can resize the file by not redrawing the background in every frame. You can also reduce the size of an audio track by using a video codec to compress it. The codec that is used to encode a video must be available to decode the video (encoded videos are decoded when you play them). If you want to play a compressed video file on your PC, your video player must have the software with the right codec installed. (Media Compression, 2011)

I enjoyed watching the videos about media compression and I also did some more of my own research into the subject, but I have to say I find it all a little bit confusing I look forward to this week’s lecture so that I can understand media compression better.

 

Bibliography

Media Compression. (2011, April). Retrieved from TechTerms.com: https://techterms.com/definition/media_compression

Techquickie. (2014, August). Video compression as fast as possible. Retrieved from Youtube.