Data compression is the compacting of info by decreasing the number of bits which are stored or transmitted. Because of this, the compressed information needs much less disk space than the original one, so a lot more content can be stored using the same amount of space. You'll find different compression algorithms that function in different ways and with some of them only the redundant bits are removed, therefore once the data is uncompressed, there is no loss of quality. Others delete excessive bits, but uncompressing the data afterwards will lead to reduced quality compared to the original. Compressing and uncompressing content requires a significant amount of system resources, especially CPU processing time, therefore every Internet hosting platform which employs compression in real time must have adequate power to support that attribute. An example how data can be compressed is to substitute a binary code such as 111111 with 6x1 i.e. "remembering" the number of consecutive 1s or 0s there should be instead of storing the entire code.
Data Compression in Web Hosting
The compression algorithm that we employ on the cloud internet hosting platform where your new web hosting account will be created is called LZ4 and it's used by the leading-edge ZFS file system that powers the system. The algorithm is better than the ones other file systems work with because its compression ratio is much higher and it processes data a lot faster. The speed is most noticeable when content is being uncompressed as this happens more quickly than data can be read from a hdd. Consequently, LZ4 improves the performance of any site located on a server that uses the algorithm. We use LZ4 in one more way - its speed and compression ratio make it possible for us to make a number of daily backups of the full content of all accounts and keep them for 30 days. Not only do our backups take less space, but also their generation does not slow the servers down like it can often happen with some other file systems.
Data Compression in Semi-dedicated Hosting
Your semi-dedicated hosting account shall be created on a cloud platform that runs using the advanced ZFS file system. The aforementioned uses a compression algorithm known as LZ4, that is far better than various other algorithms with regard to compression ratio and speed. The gain is significant especially when data is being uncompressed and not only is LZ4 much faster than other algorithms, but it is also faster in uncompressing data than a system is in reading from a hard disk drive. That is why sites running on a platform which employs LZ4 compression perform faster as the algorithm is most effective when it processes compressible data i.e. web content. Another advantage of using LZ4 is that the backup copies of the semi-dedicated accounts that we keep require significantly less space and are generated quicker, which allows us to keep multiple daily backups of your files and databases.