Compression and codecs

We battle with the limited bandwidth of the Internet everyday. Smaller is better and faster, so proper preparation of your file is essential. Know who and when you need these two allies for moving files and displaying them.

1	Compression utilities
		All web designers fight the battle and try to find a bandwidth balance between beauty and boredom. We all know, the larger the file size the longer it takes to load or transfer over an Internet connection. Compression software is a solution to dance around this baggage problem. With a lossless compressor utility, a file can be scrunched into a smaller kspace for de-compressing at its destination without losing a single bit of information. Stuffit, Zip, and Compactor are software utilities to use to process your large files into smaller ones. This process is used when the integrity of the program or document must be perfectly re-constructed when processed though a decompressor like Stuffit Expander or UnZipped.
2	Behind the scenes
	Web palette JPEG compression	A lossy compressor intelligently chooses to lose less important bits of information in its quest for smaller file sizes. JPEG, Gif and most of the codecs used in video compression use this type of lossy compression. By adjusting the bit depth or quality of the final output, a much more web-usable graphic can be created. The compression ratios vary widely and the decompression process works seamlessly and silently behind the scenes to reconstruct the image for display; a codec for every time, place and bandwidth situation.
3	On the fly
		A codec (compression/decompression) works on the fly. It collapses or unfolds a file depending on its state. It must decompress to display its full beauty and then compress again to make itself movable across your desktop or around the world. Most video editing programs offer these compression/decompression choices as a pop-up list to choose from when saving a movie. The final file will be viewable when opened with a movieplayer application, pictureviewer or even a browser with the designated helper applications.