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Lossy vs lossless compression — a simple guide
How lossy and lossless compression differ and how to avoid quality loss when converting.
Author: Szymon Badyl · Published: 2026-03-10 · Updated: 2026-07-23
Lossy formats (MP3, JPG, AAC, H.264) discard data to shrink files. Lossless formats (FLAC, PNG, WAV, ZIP) keep all data but produce larger files.
Rule: only convert lossy → lossless when you must — you won't recover lost quality. Convert lossy → lossy only once — each re-conversion degrades the result.
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