Which data compression technique maintains data integrity?

Lossless compression is the technique that maintains data integrity, meaning it allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data. This is crucial in many applications where every bit of information is significant, such as text files, executables, and certain image types like PNGs. In lossless compression, the process involves reducing file size without losing any information, ensuring that the decompressed data is an exact replica of the original.

In contrast, lossy compression techniques reduce file size by permanently eliminating certain data, which can affect quality and lead to loss of information. This is often used in applications like audio and video encoding, where some data is less critical to the overall experience. For example, JPEG images and MP3 audio files use lossy compression, sacrificing some quality in exchange for significantly smaller file sizes. Therefore, while these methods are efficient for certain uses, they do not guarantee data integrity as lossless compression does.