– Lossless compression is a process by which the file size is compressed, but the data are reconstructed on the fly in the media player. – Truly lossless codecs restore the compressed file to its original content, giving the listener all the fidelity that was present in the original file.

– The down side is that such formats (FLAC, et al) do not compress to very small files that heavily-compressed MP3 files do, so media players with comparatively limited memory cannot hold as many songs.

– It’s really a question of quantity versus quality when it comes to compression techniques.