Data compression is the compacting of data by reducing the number of bits that are stored or transmitted. In this way, the compressed info needs less disk space than the original one, so more content could be stored using the same amount of space. There are various compression algorithms that work in different ways and with many of them just the redundant bits are deleted, which means that once the data is uncompressed, there is no decrease in quality. Others erase excessive bits, but uncompressing the data later will result in reduced quality in comparison with the original. Compressing and uncompressing content takes a significant amount of system resources, and in particular CPU processing time, so any Internet hosting platform that employs compression in real time should have adequate power to support this feature. An example how info can be compressed is to replace a binary code such as 111111 with 6x1 i.e. "remembering" the number of sequential 1s or 0s there should be instead of saving the actual code.

Data Compression in Cloud Website Hosting

The compression algorithm that we employ on the cloud internet hosting platform where your new cloud website hosting account will be created is named LZ4 and it's applied by the cutting-edge ZFS file system that powers the platform. The algorithm is better than the ones other file systems employ because its compression ratio is much higher and it processes data considerably faster. The speed is most noticeable when content is being uncompressed since this happens quicker than information can be read from a hard drive. Consequently, LZ4 improves the performance of every site stored on a server which uses the algorithm. We use LZ4 in an additional way - its speed and compression ratio make it possible for us to produce several daily backup copies of the entire content of all accounts and store them for 30 days. Not only do these backup copies take less space, but also their generation doesn't slow the servers down like it often happens with various other file systems.

Data Compression in Semi-dedicated Servers

In case you host your sites in a semi-dedicated server account from our company, you can experience the advantages of LZ4 - the powerful compression algorithm employed by the ZFS file system that's behind our advanced cloud web hosting platform. What distinguishes LZ4 from all the other algorithms out there is that it has a better compression ratio and it is way quicker, particularly when it comes to uncompressing website content. It does that even quicker than uncompressed info can be read from a hard disk drive, so your Internet sites will perform faster. The higher speed is at the expense of using plenty of CPU processing time, that is not a problem for our platform as it consists of numerous clusters working together. Along with the improved performance, you'll have multiple daily backup copies at your disposal, so you could restore any deleted content with just a few clicks. The backup copies are available for an entire month and we can afford to keep them as they take a lot less space than conventional backups.