Compression Algorithms For Efficient Big Data Storage
Compression Algorithms For Efficient Big Data Storage
Volume 9 Issue 3, May-Jun 2025 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470
I. INTRODUCTION
The digital age's massive data generation has Compression algorithms make big data storage easier.
transformed business, government, and relationships. Compression algorithms allow organisations to store
IoT devices, social media, and advanced analytics more data in less space while retaining essential
have increased data production to unprecedented information. Real-time applications need this
levels. This trend, called "big data," involves massive, optimisation to lower storage costs and boost
complex datasets that are difficult to store, process, processing and data transfer speeds. Lossless
and analyse. Big data helps identify patterns, improve compression is the optimal choice for mission-critical
decision-making, and drive innovation in medicine, data, while losing compression allows certain
economics, retail, and science [1]. Big data applications to make acceptable quality and size
management and storage are difficult despite its many compromises [2]. Together, these algorithms support
benefits. Big data's size and complexity make storage current data management methods. Compression
difficult. Infrastructure costs are high because algorithms are important and complicated in big data
structured and unstructured data require a lot of storage. It discusses their principles, rates popular
hardware. Keeping such data accessible, reliable, and methods, and integrates them into big data
latency-free complicates storage. Businesses are frameworks. The article discusses recent and future
always looking for ways to maximise their limited compression algorithm developments to demonstrate
resources because data is growing faster than most their importance in big data storage and management.
storage solutions can handle. Due to this need, storage
II. FUNDAMENTALS OF DATA
solutions must be efficient, scalable, and affordable
COMPRESSION
while protecting data integrity and accessibility.
Compressing data reduces its size without
compromising its quality. Data compression reduces
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD81127 | Volume – 9 | Issue – 3 | May-Jun 2025 Page 788
International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
space and bandwidth needed to transmit and store formats. This causes inefficient storage use, latency,
data to maximise resource use. Data-driven industries and higher costs.
and the need to efficiently manage massive amounts
Because managing large datasets is complicated, data
of data have made compression crucial. Lossless and
accessibility, security, and integrity are difficult to
lossy compression are the main data compression
ensure. Big data companies aim to reduce storage
methods [3].
costs and increase data accessibility [6]. Servers, data
The original data can be perfectly reconstructed from centres, and other storage infrastructure are expensive
compressed data using lossless compression. This upfront and over time. Effective data management
method is often used for high-fidelity data files like can reduce these expenses and improve system
PNG images or text files like ZIP. Lossless performance and data retrieval speeds. Improved
compression preserves all data, making it essential for accessibility ensures quick data retrieval and
applications where small errors can have big effects. processing, enabling timely decision-making and
Lossy compression reduces file size while competitive advantage preservation.
maintaining quality by using some of the original
data. Multimedia files like images, audio, and video
use this method because even a small data loss doesn't
affect user experience. JPEG and MP3 use lossy
compression to balance file size and quality [4].
Lossy methods help streaming services save
bandwidth. A compression algorithm's effectiveness
is measured by compression ratio, speed, and
FIGURE 1 Data Flow Before and After
efficiency. Data compression is often expressed as a
Compression (Source: Self-Created)
percentage of its original size. For real-time
applications, data compression and decompression Effective compression algorithms are needed to
times matter. An algorithm is efficient if it address these issues. This algorithm greatly reduces
compresses data with little processing power. These data file sizes, allowing businesses to store more data
metrics help decide if a compression method is right with less resources. Compression lowers
for a task. infrastructure costs and hardware upgrades by
reducing storage footprint [7]. Compression speeds
Big data requires compression to overcome
up data processing and transfers, which is crucial for
processing and storage limitations. Big data is too
real-time applications and analytics. Strong
large to send or store unprocessed. Data compression
compression techniques are needed to make storage
saves computing resources, speeds network data
strategies scalable, cost-effective, and operationally
transfer, and lowers storage costs. Compression
efficient as big data grows.
algorithms in Hadoop and Spark help organisations
manage large datasets. Therefore, big data IV. TYPES OF COMPRESSION
management strategies must include compression. ALGORITHMS FOR BIG DATA
Massive data sets require compression algorithms for
III. OVERVIEW OF BIG DATA STORAGE
data management. These algorithms are mostly
CHALLENGES
lossless and lossy. Both have different approaches,
Big data is defined by its 5Vs: volume, velocity,
benefits, and drawbacks, making them optimal for
variety, veracity, and value. Volume terabytes to
specific applications. Hybrid compression methods
exabytes of data generated daily is called volume.
maximise both approaches.
This massive data flood comes from enterprise apps,
social media, and IoT devices. Due to data generation A. LOSSLESS COMPRESSION ALGORITHMS
and processing velocity, real-time or near-real-time The early lossless compression algorithm Huffman
analytics systems are needed. Big data includes Coding stands out. To make it work, frequently
structured databases, unstructured text, photos, appearing symbols have shorter binary codes and
videos, and sensor data. Truthfulness highlights the rarely appearing symbols have longer codes. Huffman
challenges of data accuracy and reliability in the face Coding uses a symbol frequency-based binary tree
of noise and inconsistencies. Finally, big data analysis structure to ensure no code is a prefix for efficient
and use yield practical insights and benefits [5]. decoding [8]. The ZIP and GZIP file formats use this
Traditional storage methods struggle with these method. Its main benefit is reproducing initial data.
features. Traditional database and file storage systems Due to low compression ratios, Huffman Coding may
cannot handle big data's volume and velocity. They're not benefit datasets with normal frequency
not flexible or scalable enough to handle all data distributions.
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD81127 | Volume – 9 | Issue – 3 | May-Jun 2025 Page 789
International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
Arithmetic coding, another lossless method, converts variable data because repetitions are rare, preventing
messages to integers between zero and one. compression gains.
Arithmetic Coding represents the probability of the
C. HYBRID COMPRESSION TECHNIQUES
entire data stream, unlike Huffman Coding, which
Hybrid compression algorithms combine lossy and
uses discrete symbols, making it efficient for datasets
lossless algorithms for optimal results. Multimedia
with skewed symbol distributions [9]. This algorithm
codecs like HEVC and H.264 use transform coding
is used in text and multimedia codecs. Although it
for lossy video frame compression and lossless
outperforms Huffman Coding in compression ratio, it
entropy coding for metadata and headers, like
is computationally heavy and may not work well in
Arithmetic Coding [13]. This combination preserves
real time.
important data while achieving high compression
Compression algorithms like LZ77 and LZW ratios. These methods excel in big data applications
(Lempel-Ziv) can replace repetitive patterns with like streaming and video analytics, where efficiency
dictionary-based shorter references. LZ77 replaces and quality are crucial.
repeating strings with references to earlier ones, while
D. ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS OF
LZW creates a data stream pattern dictionary. GIF
EACH METHOD
and ZIP use these methods extensively. Their
Compression algorithms are optimal for certain tasks
adaptability to different data types is one of their
due to their pros and cons. Use LZW, Arithmetic
many advantages.
Coding, or Huffman Coding for lossless data recovery
Quick and efficient lossless compression algorithms of text files, databases, or important logs. However,
Snappy and Zstandard are new [10]. Google's Snappy their compression ratios are lower than lossy
prioritises fast compression and decompression for methods. Although they may cause artefacts or
real-time applications like log management. quality loss, lossy algorithms like DCT and wavelet-
Facebook's Zstandard balances speed and based methods compress multimedia files well.
compression ratio and offers adjustable parameters. In Hybrid approaches can optimise size and quality, but
fast-processing big data frameworks like Spark and they are complex and computationally intensive.
Hadoop, these algorithms are becoming more
Big data compression algorithms depend on data type,
popular. Though efficient, they may not compress as
use, and storage efficiency vs. processing demands.
well as more complicated algorithms like Arithmetic
Lossy algorithms work better for photos and videos
Coding.
than lossless algorithms for structured and critical
B. LOSSY COMPRESSION ALGORITHMS data. For storage and resource efficiency, big data
Lossy compression relies on transform coding, which ecosystems will always need compression algorithms.
includes the DCT. Data can be converted from spatial
V. ROLE OF COMPRESSION IN BIG
to frequency domain to remove low-frequency
DATA FRAMEWORKS
components (important features) and keep high-
Large amounts of data are created and processed in
frequency components (details). JPEG and MPEG use
the big data era, making compression essential for
this method to compress images and videos [11]. Its
storage management and performance optimisation.
main benefit is size reduction, but it may lose fine
Cloud storage platforms and big data ecosystems like
details, making it unsuitable for some uses.
Hadoop and Spark manage massive amounts of
Wavelet transforms use transform coding at multiple diverse data [14]. These frameworks improve storage
resolutions to improve data representation. costs, data transfer speeds, and processing efficiency
Progressive transmission and scalable storage make by using efficient compression algorithms. Modern
this method ideal for audio and image compression. big data applications use compression to scale, speed
Wavelet-based compression allows JPEG 2000 to up, and reduce storage.
compress at high ratios without sacrificing quality.
A. INTEGRATION OF COMPRESSION
However, these methods may be too computationally
ALGORITHMS IN BIG DATA
intensive for real-time big data processing.
ECOSYSTEMS
Run-Length Encoding (RLE) is a simple and efficient Big data frameworks are used for datasets too large
lossy compression method that replaces repeated for conventional systems. Since these systems are
values with a single value and count [12]. A string of scalable, data compression algorithms are integrated
ten "A"s is "A10." Bitmaps and other data with long into their processing and storage layers to optimise
repeated values are good RLE candidates. Processing performance. Compressing data before storage allows
is fast and computational overhead is low due to its these systems to fit datasets into distributed storage
simplicity. However, RLE doesn't work for highly clusters [15]. Data compression during processing
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD81127 | Volume – 9 | Issue – 3 | May-Jun 2025 Page 790
International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
speeds up analysis and reduces network bandwidth by speeds up read/write speeds and lowers transmission
reducing data read and transferred. Big data and storage costs in Spark, making it ideal for remote
frameworks like Hadoop and Spark compress and computing and large datasets. Spark and the
decompress large datasets before processing them to algorithm's distributed nature enable efficient
reduce storage costs. These frameworks allow real- decompression and I/O bottleneck reduction.
time data analytics with high compression ratios by Spark uses Brotli, originally for web compression, for
balancing processing speed and use-case-specific data storage and transmission. Spark tasks that handle
compression methods. log files, JSON, and other textual data may benefit
from its ability to compress large volumes of text.
Brotli is a suitable alternative to Gzip for Spark
workload optimisation, especially in cloud situations,
because it has greater compression ratios and
comparable speeds.
3. CLOUD STORAGE: GZIP AND PARQUET
Modern big data architectures use Amazon S3,
Google Cloud Storage, and Azure Blob Storage.
Optimising storage and data transport requires
compression. Cloud storage companies use Gzip and
Parquet for massive data compression. Gzip is a
FIGURE 2 Big Data Storage Architecture popular data compression method. It is supported by
B. USE CASES OF COMPRESSION various cloud storage services and big data
ALGORITHMS IN BIG DATA frameworks because to its efficiency and simplicity.
FRAMEWORKS Gzip is ideal for compressing CSV files, logs, and
1. HADOOP: SNAPPY AND LZO other unstructured data because to its excellent
Hadoop, a popular distributed processing and storage compression ratios [18]. Cloud systems often
framework, optimises storage and performance with compress data with Gzip before storage to reduce
compression. In the Hadoop Distributed File System storage costs and network bandwidth.
(HDFS), which distributes data across many nodes, Columnar storage file format Parquet is suitable for
Snappy and LZO are widely used to compress data Hadoop and Spark. Parquet includes snappy
[16]. compression and lets users choose from Gzip and
LZO. Because it compresses columns, Parquet is
Snappy's speed-focused compression ratio attracts
great for analytical queries because it decreases
Hadoop users. Its efficient compression and
storage costs and improves query performance. For
decompression mechanisms make it ideal for real-
big data applications that need scalable, fast data
time or near-real-time applications.
processing, cloud-stored Parquet files are perfect for
Snappy speeds up data processing, which is essential storing enormous datasets for analytics.
for Hadoop's batch processing model despite its low
C. CASE STUDIES AND EXAMPLES OF
compression ratios. Many workflows use it, including
COMPRESSION IN REAL-WORLD BIG
log management, data ingestion, and streaming
DATA FRAMEWORKS
analytics. Another lightweight Hadoop algorithm is
1. Netflix: Compression for Streaming Video
LZO, which prioritises speed and moderate
Analytics
compression ratios. Applications that need real-time
Industry leaders like Netflix employ Spark and
data compression and decompression without delays
Hadoop to process large amounts of user and
benefit from this feature. For time-sensitive large-
streaming data. Video storage, transport, and user
scale data processing, LZO and Snappy are faster
data analysis depend on compression. Snappy and
than more computationally intensive algorithms
Zstandard compression help Netflix save money on
despite having lower compression ratios.
storage and improve its recommendation systems
2. SPARK: ZSTD AND BROTLI [19]. Netflix compresses logs and user behaviour data
Apache Spark's in-memory big data processing is to process billions of user interactions daily with low
quick thanks to efficient compression methods. Spark latency and high throughput.
often uses ZSTD and Brotli compression to boost
2. LinkedIn: Real-time Data Processing with
performance.
Kafka
ZSTD, an advanced compression method, balances LinkedIn uses distributed streaming technology
processing speed and compression ratio [17]. ZSTD Apache Kafka for real-time data analytics. Snappy
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD81127 | Volume – 9 | Issue – 3 | May-Jun 2025 Page 791
International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
and Gzip compress Kafka messages to save space and Modern compression techniques are needed to solve
bandwidth. LinkedIn reduces its data storage large-scale data system storage and processing
demands by compressing streaming data before problems, which will only expand as big data grows.
storage without affecting its ability to quickly process VI.
COMPARISON OF POPULAR
huge volumes of incoming data. LinkedIn can provide COMPRESSION ALGORITHMS
real-time user interactions and platform performance
Different compression algorithms work optimal with
metrics [21]. Compression strategies boost massive
different data formats and have different speed,
data framework efficiency. These methods reducecompression ratios, and efficacy. Knowing these
storage needs, speed up data transport, and improve
differences is crucial when picking a large data
data processing task performance, ensuring huge data
algorithm since they directly affect processing speed
system scalability. Data and application requirements
and storage efficiency. The table below compares
should determine lossless or lossy compression.popular big data compression methods. These
algorithms are Snappy, ZSTD, LZ77/LZW, Gzip, and
Brotli.
TABLE 1 COMPARISON OF POPULAR COMPRESSION ALGORITHM
Speed
Compression Compression Suitability for Different
(Compression/ Use Cases
Algorithm Ratio Types of Data
Decompression)
Very Fast Ideal for structured and Hadoop, Spark,
(Compression: Fast, semi-structured data such real-time
Snappy Moderate
Decompression: as logs, CSV, or simple processing, log
Very Fast) datasets data
Moderate Suitable for large, high-
Hadoop, Spark,
Zstandard (Compression: Fast, volume datasets such as
High cloud storage, file
(ZSTD) Decompression: transactional logs and
systems
Very Fast) analytical data
General-purpose
Moderate to Works well with text data,
LZ77/LZW Fast to Moderate compression,
High codebooks, and simple data
text-based files
Optimal for compressing Cloud storage,
Gzip High Moderate to Slow text-based data, including file systems, web
logs, CSV, and XML applications
Effective for compressing
Web applications,
text and web data,
Brotli Very High Moderate cloud storage,
especially HTTP
static file serving
compression
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD81127 | Volume – 9 | Issue – 3 | May-Jun 2025 Page 792
International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
compresses static things like scripts and images storage's future is bright with better and more
faster. adaptable compression approaches.
D. CHOOSING THE RIGHT ALGORITHM REFERENCE
Due to their lightning-fast speeds and optimum [1] M. Pandey, S. Shrivastava, S. Pandey, and S.
compression/decompression combo, Snappy and Shridevi, "An enhanced data compression
ZSTD surpass the competition in real-time processing algorithm," in 2020 International Conference
in Spark and Hadoop. Gzip and ZSTD reduce storage on Emerging Trends in Information Technology
and processing time, making them ideal for cloud and Engineering (ic-ETITE), 2020, pp. 1–4.
storage or archive data that needs compression ratio.
[2] J. Latif, P. Mehryar, L. Hou, and Z. Ali, "An
Brotli optimises web traffic and HTTP compression efficient data compression algorithm for real-
for websites that use CDNs or need fast data transfer time monitoring applications in healthcare," in
[24]. Storage efficiency, data type, and processing 2020 5th International Conference on
speed determine which compression method is ideal Computer and Communication Systems
for a big data application. Gzip and Brotli are good (ICCCS), 2020, pp. 71–75.
for high-compression applications, whereas Snappy
[3] T. A. S. Srinivas, S. Ramasubbareddy, G.
and ZSTD are good for speed and real-time
Kannayaram, and C. P. Kumar, "Storage
performance. Understanding compression ratio and
optimization using file compression techniques
speed trade-offs helps big data frameworks optimise
for big data," in FICTA (2), 2020, pp. 409–416.
storage and performance.
[4] A. N. Kahdim and M. E. Manaa, "Design an
VII. FUTURE TRENDS AND INNOVATIONS
efficient Internet of Things data compression
AI and machine learning could dramatically improve
for healthcare applications," Bulletin of
compression methods in the future. These methods
Electrical Engineering and Informatics, vol.
are promising for context-aware and adaptive
11, no. 3, pp. 1678–1686, 2022.
compression, which optimises processing speed and
storage economy by making real-time adaptations [5] H. Astsatryan, A. Lalayan, A. Kocharyan, and
based on data attributes. AI-driven compression D. Hagimont, "Performance-efficient
improves compression efficiency without quality loss recommendation and prediction service for big
by studying data patterns. Quantum computing can data frameworks focusing on data compression
use quantum states to compress enormous amounts of and in-memory data storage indicators,"
data at record rates, which could revolutionise data Scalable Computing: Practice and Experience,
compression. Thus, quantum compression research is vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 401–412, 2021.
intriguing. AI-driven approaches are computationally [6] S. Kalaivani, C. Tharini, K. Saranya, and K.
complex, large-scale systems must process in real Priyanka, "Design and implementation of
time, and quantum computing's practical uses are hybrid compression algorithm for personal
unclear. Compression techniques are constantly health care big data applications," Wireless
changing, but they can improve data storage, Personal Communications, vol. 113, no. 1, pp.
processing efficiency, and big data application 599–615, 2020.
possibilities while overcoming these challenges.
[7] K. Meena and J. Sujatha, "Reduced time
VIII. CONCLUSION compression in big data using MapReduce
Compression techniques can aid with enormous data approach and Hadoop," Journal of Medical
storage, as mentioned in this article. We covered data Systems, vol. 43, no. 8, p. 239, 2019.
compression basics, including lossless and lossy
compression and big data applications. Compression [8] J. Song, S. Hu, Y. Bao, and G. Yu, "Compress
algorithms include Huffman coding, Zstandard, blocks or not: Tradeoffs for energy
Snappy, and Gzip. Each has strengths in compression consumption of a big data processing system,"
ratio, speed, and data type compatibility. We IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing,
examined how Hadoop and Spark use the algorithms vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 112–124, 2020.
to improve storage optimisation and data [9] Bakir, "New blockchain based special keys
accessibility. For optimal compression, storage security model with path compression
efficiency, processing speed, and data type, choose algorithm for big data," IEEE Access, vol. 10,
the right algorithm. Data storage and processing may pp. 94738–94753, 2022.
change soon due to AI-driven and quantum
compression. Though the field's constant evolution [10] Yu, S. Lu, T. Wang, X. Zhang, and S. Wan,
presents challenges and opportunities, big data "Towards higher efficiency in a distributed
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD81127 | Volume – 9 | Issue – 3 | May-Jun 2025 Page 793
International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
memory storage system using data [17] S. Vatedka and A. Tchamkerten, "Local decode
compression," International Journal of Bio- and update for big data compression," IEEE
Inspired Computation, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 232– Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 66,
240, 2022. no. 9, pp. 5790–5805, 2020.
[11] S. Qi, J. Wang, M. Miao, M. Zhang, and X. [18] G. Xiong, "Research on big data compression
Chen, "Tinyenc: Enabling compressed and algorithm based on BIM," in 2021 IEEE
encrypted big data stores with rich query International Conference on Power, Intelligent
support," IEEE Transactions on Dependable Computing and Systems (ICPICS), 2021, pp.
and Secure Computing, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 176– 97–100.
192, 2021. [19] S. Pal, S. Mondal, G. Das, S. Khatua, and Z.
[12] Carpentieri, "Data compression in massive data Ghosh, "Big data in biology: The hope and
storage systems," in 2024 International present-day challenges in it," Gene Reports,
Conference on Artificial Intelligence, vol. 21, p. 100869, 2020.
Computer, Data Sciences and Applications [20] K. Sansanwal, G. Shrivastava, R. Anand, and
(ACDSA), 2024, pp. 1–6. K. Sharma, "Big data analysis and compression
[13] Hu, F. Wang, W. Li, J. Li, and H. Guan, for indoor air quality," in Handbook of IoT and
"QZFS: QAT accelerated compression in file Big Data, CRC Press, 2019, pp. 1–21.
system for application agnostic and cost [21] S. A. Abdulzahra, A. K. M. Al-Qurabat, and A.
efficient data storage," in 2019 USENIX Annual K. Idrees, "Data reduction based on
Technical Conference (USENIX ATC 19), 2019, compression technique for big data in IoT," in
pp. 163–176. 2020 International Conference on Emerging
[14] U. Narayanan, V. Paul, and S. Joseph, "A novel Smart Computing and Informatics (ESCI),
system architecture for secure authentication 2020, pp. 103–108.
and data sharing in cloud enabled big data [22] Zhang et al., "Compress DB: Enabling efficient
environment," Journal of King Saud compressed data direct processing for various
University-Computer and Information Sciences, databases," in Proceedings of the 2022
vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 3121–3135, 2022. International Conference on Management of
[15] H. Yao, Y. Ji, K. Li, S. Liu, J. He, and R. Data, 2022, pp. 1655–1669.
Wang, "HRCM: An efficient hybrid referential [23] A. Abdo, T. Salem Karamany, and A. Yakoub,
compression method for genomic big data," "Enhanced data security and storage efficiency
BioMed Research International, vol. 2019, no. in cloud computing: A survey of data
1, p. 3108950, 2019. compression and encryption techniques," vol. 6,
[16] J. Chen, M. Daverveldt, and Z. Al-Ars, "FPGA no. 2, pp. 81–88, 2024.
acceleration of ZSTD compression algorithm," [24] R. Pratap, K. Revanuru, R. Anirudh, and R.
in 2021 IEEE International Parallel and Kulkarni, "Efficient compression algorithm for
Distributed Processing Symposium Workshops multimedia data," in 2020 IEEE Sixth
(IPDPSW), 2021, pp. 188–191. International Conference on Multimedia Big
Data (BigMM), 2020, pp. 245–250.
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD81127 | Volume – 9 | Issue – 3 | May-Jun 2025 Page 794