SQA National 5 Computing Science Complete Practice Exam 2026

GIF is an example of a format that employs lossless compression. This means that when the image is compressed, no data is lost in the process; the original image can be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data. In a lossless format like GIF, all the information is preserved, which is particularly important for images where clarity and detail are essential.

In contrast, formats like JPEG utilize lossy compression, where some data is discarded to reduce file size, potentially compromising image quality. Similarly, MP3 is a lossy audio format that sacrifices some audio quality to achieve smaller file sizes. MOV files can contain a variety of media types, but they often use codecs that may employ either lossy or lossless compression, which makes them less definitive in this context. Thus, GIF stands out as the clear example of a format that specifically uses lossless compression for images.