Which of the following best describes lossless compression?

Lossless compression refers to a method of data compression that allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data. This means that all original information is preserved during the compression process. When data is losslessly compressed, no quality is lost, and every bit of the original file can be retrieved without any alteration once decompressed. This is particularly important in scenarios where maintaining the integrity of the original data is crucial, such as in text files, images, or executable programs.

In contrast, options that refer to removing some data or focusing specifically on certain file types do not accurately represent lossless compression. Lossy compression, which is not being discussed here, intentionally discards some data to achieve a smaller file size, while limiting the context to only specific types of files like text or audio is overly restrictive in the context of lossless compression. Thus, retaining all original data characterizes lossless compression comprehensively and accurately.