What characterizes lossless compression?

Lossless compression is characterized by its ability to significantly reduce the size of data files without losing any information. This means when the compressed file is decompressed, it will be identical to the original, making it fully recoverable. While the compression may not yield the dramatic size reductions that lossy compression can achieve, it does provide modest savings while maintaining the integrity of the original data.

Lossless compression is essential in situations where quality is critical, such as in the case of text files, spreadsheets, or certain media types where data fidelity is paramount. This differentiates it from other forms of compression that might compromise quality for the sake of size, as seen in lossy compression techniques.

The other statements fail to accurately characterize lossless compression: it is not non-recoverable, it does not inherently lead to quality loss, and it is applicable to many types of files, not just audio.