Learning Objectives Covered

1. Identify and determine the appropriate use of lossy and lossless compression

Background

In today’s world, you are likely to purchase stock photography for your projects. It is tempting to download the .jpg provided and begin to reformat it directly for your projects. This is not recommended – and here’s why. Every time you open and resave a .jpg, the information within it is diminished. You are literally throwing pixels away with every single save as command. Files formatted as .jpg have a lossy compression attached to them. This means the original data is not preserved. Lossless is a second compression system that preserves original data. Lossless files are larger, and that is why it is often not utilized, particularly online. Here is a short video that does an excellent job of explaining the difference between lossy and lossless compression. Notice how the narrator describes the different compressions and their effect. Much of what he explains will help you with this week’s discussion.

Understanding lossy and lossless compression (Links to an external site.)

(3:55 min)

Prompt

You are once again working with the client from week 3. You’ve gotten the job and have recreated their logo as a vector file. You are now ready to move on to work on brochures, billboards and more. The owner of the company points you to their website once again for assets, telling you that the website is the only place they have photos to use.

For your initial post, please address the following questions:

1. Will these photos work for the projects you have been hired to do? Why or why not?
2. How do you explain your dilemma to the client?
3. How does lossy and lossless compression figure into this?

For your citation, you might use articles that describe lossy vs lossless compression, print vs. web resolution, and color, or which file type is best for which job.

When looking at your fellow student’s discussion posts, discuss the effectiveness of their response. You might consider addressing questions such as: What points came across well, and which need further explanation? What might help clarify their points? Can you share resources that you found in your research that might help to clarify a point?

Your initial and reply posts should work to develop a group understanding of this topic. Challenge each other. Build on each other. Always be respectful but discuss this and figure it out together.

Reply Requirements

Per the Due Dates and Participation Requirements for this course, you must submit 1 main post of 150+ words, 1 IWG citation, and reference, as well as 2 follow-up posts of 50+ words. Responses can be addressed to both your initial thread and other threads but must be your own words (no copy and paste), each reply unique (no repeating something you already said), and substantial in nature. Remember that part of the discussion grade is submitting on time (20%) and using proper grammar, spelling, etc. (20% per post).