Compression refers to the process of reducing the size or volume of something, often by squeezing it. In a general sense, compression can be applied to data, sound, images, and video files in order to make them smaller without losing too much quality. This is achieved through various algorithms that analyze the content and remove unnecessary bits while preserving important information. Compression is commonly used in digital media storage, transmission, and processing to save space, improve efficiency, and reduce latency.