• SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    That’s pretty disingenuous, since most files aren’t just random data.

    Most real files actually have rather low entropy, even if they look like random junk (e.g., executables), chiefly due to repetition of similar data and sparse values.

    • wumpus@latte.isnot.coffee
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      1 year ago

      Exactly. It’s merely our human preference for those types of files that allow them to work at all.

      • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s not a preference; it’s simply the state of the system to which we may desire to apply compression.