Patent attributes
A data compression system enables user-level applications to compress and decompress files to save storage space even for user-level applications that are not modified to use compressed files. User preferences associated with a user terminal are established for the compression of data, e.g. video data, wherein the user preferences comprise selective enablement of compression for at least one file type. An exemplary system determines the type of a digital data file, e.g. a digital video data file, being output from an application or input to an application, and performs transparent file-type-based compression or decompression of the digital data file, if enabled by the established user preferences. Files of the selected file types are stored with compressed formats and may even have different names, but are shown to user-level applications to have the same file names and file sizes as original uncompressed files. Therefore, the existing applications can perform operations without any disruptions. The transparent compression can be implemented within a variety of dedicated and/or distributed network configurations, as well as on a single workstation.
