What is a characteristic of lossless compression methods?

Lossless compression methods are designed to reduce the file size without losing any information. This means that when the compressed data is decompressed, it will exactly match the original data, preserving every detail and element. The characteristic feature of these methods is that they retain all the original data, which is crucial for applications where accuracy is essential, such as in GIS or software that deals with detailed imagery or essential data files.

In contrast, options suggesting the elimination of some data or requiring more storage space do not align with the key principle of lossless compression. Lossy compression, on the other hand, does remove some data to achieve smaller file sizes, often leading to a reduction in quality. While lossless methods might be slower because they must ensure no data is discarded, this is not inherent in their effectiveness or purpose, which primarily revolves around maintaining data integrity.