Byte
The technical term for 8 bits of data is a Byte. A "byte" is the standard fundamental unit (or "chunk size") underlying most computing systems today. You may have heard "megabyte", "kilobyte", "gigabyte", etc. which are all different amounts of bytes.
Heuristic
a problem solving approach (algorithm) to find a satisfactory solution where finding an optimal or exact solution is impractical or impossible.
Lossless Compression
a data compression algorithm that allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data.
Lossy Compression
(or irreversible compression) a data compression method that uses inexact approximations, discarding some data to represent the content. Most commonly seen in image formats like .jpg.
Image
A type of data used for graphics or pictures.
metadata
is data that describes other data. For example, a digital image my include metadata that describe the size of the image, number of colors, or resolution.( extra info to tell how to interpret the data that follows)
pixel
short for "picture element" it is the fundamental unit of a digital image, typically a tiny square or dot which contains a single point of color of a larger image.
RGB
the RGB color model uses varying intensities of (R)ed, (G)reen, and (B)lue light are added together in to reproduce a broad array of colors.
Kilobyte (KB)
1 thousand bytes (2^10)
Megabyte (MB)
1 million bytes (2^20)
Gigabyte (GB)
1 billion bytes (2^30)
Terabyte (TB)
1 trillion bytes (2^40)
Petabyte (PB)
1 quadrillion (2^50)
Exabyte (EB)
1 quintillion (2^60)
How to calculate compressed data
(# bytes original- # bytes new)/(# bytes original)=percent compressed
BMP
Uncompressed Image
WAV
Uncompressed sound
JPEG
Compressed image, lossy
GIF
compressed image, lossless (256 color limit)
MP3
compressed sound, lossy
ZIP
compressed files lossless
PNG
compressed image lossless
How many bytes does it take...?
How many bytes (or bits) are required to encode an image that is 25 pixels wide and 50 pixels tall, if you encode each pixel with 3 bytes (24 bits) of RGB data.
(Don't forget to add in the metadata! -- you should assume tha
3,753 bytes (30,024 bites)