What is a primary benefit of using lossless compression compared to lossy compression?

The primary benefit of using lossless compression is that it retains original quality without data loss. Lossless compression algorithms reduce file sizes while ensuring that all original data can be perfectly reconstructed when the file is decompressed. This is crucial for applications where maintaining the integrity of the original data is important, such as with text files, software, or any format where even a small amount of data loss could lead to functional or perceptual issues.

In contrast, lossy compression methods sacrifice some data and quality in order to achieve smaller file sizes, which may be advantageous for media formats like images or audio where minor loss is often imperceptible. However, this means that once data is lost through lossy compression, it cannot be recovered. Hence, lossless compression is especially important when the exact reproduction of data is necessary.