What does Data Compression refer to?

• A. A method to increase data redundancy.
• B. A process to encrypt data for security.
• C. A method to convert text to speech.
• D. A method to reduce the volume of data using encoding that results in fewer bits of information than the original dataset (lossless or lossy).

Answer: (D)

Data compression is the process of reducing the amount of data needed to represent information by encoding it more efficiently. It yields fewer bits than the original dataset and can be either lossless (the original data can be perfectly reconstructed) or lossy (some information is discarded for higher compression). This helps save storage space and bandwidth, and can speed up data transfer. It’s not about increasing redundancy, it’s not about encryption for security, and it’s not about converting text to speech.