Meaning & use
lossy
Last updated
Describing a method of data compression that permanently discards some information, resulting in a smaller file size but reduced quality.
See it in a sentence
JPEG is a lossy image format, so repeated saving can gradually blur fine details.
Streaming services often use lossy audio compression to save bandwidth.
A note on using this word
The term is a playful coinage built directly from loss plus the adjective suffix -y, common in computing jargon.
Words with an opposite meaning
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