Data compression symmetry

Symmetry and asymmetry, in the context of

.

If an algorithm takes the same time to compress a data archive as it does to decompress it, it is considered symmetrical. Note that compression and decompression, even for a symmetric algorithm, may not be perfectly symmetric in practice, depending on the devices the data is being copied to and from, and other factors such as

on the device.

In turn, if the compression and decompression times of an algorithm are vastly different, it is considered asymmetrical.

Examples

Symmetric algorithms are typically used for

protocols, as either the server taking too long to compress the data, or the client taking too long to decompress, would lead to delays in the viewing of the data.

Asymmetrical algorithms wherein the compression is faster than the decompression can be useful for

data, as in these cases data is typically much more often stored than retrieved.

References

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Data compression symmetry" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Further reading

• Peter D. Symes (2004). "Symmetric and Asymetric Systems". Digital Video Compression. McGraw-Hill Professional. pp. 11.
  ISBN 9780071424875
  .
• David Salomon (2008). A Concise Introduction to Data Compression. Springer. pp. 15–16.
  ISBN 9781848000711
  .