
The most common digital compression artifacts are DCT blocks, caused by the discrete cosine transform (DCT) compression algorithm used in many digital media standards, such as JPEG, MP3, and MPEG video file formats. The compression algorithm may not be intelligent enough to discriminate between distortions of little subjective importance and those objectionable to the user. If the compressor cannot store enough data in the compressed version, the result is a loss of quality, or introduction of artifacts. Lossy data compression involves discarding some of the media's data so that it becomes small enough to be stored within the desired disk space or transmitted ( streamed) within the available bandwidth (known as the data rate or bit rate). Original image, with good text edges and color grade Loss of edge clarity and tone "fuzziness" in heavy JPEG compressionĪ compression artifact (or artefact) is a noticeable distortion of media (including images, audio, and video) caused by the application of lossy compression. For other uses, see mosquito (disambiguation). For the controversial anti-loitering technology, see The Mosquito. On March 25th, 2012, the /r/brokengifs subreddit was launched, featuring animated GIFs created using datamoshing techniques."Mosquito noise" redirects here. On May 16th, 2011, YouTuber Yung Jake uploaded a music video titled "Datamosh," which included a variety of compression artifacts (shown below). Within the first four years, the video gathered more than 10.3 million views and 11,400 comments.

On June 16th, rapper Kanye West released the music video for his song "Welcome to the Heartbreak" (shown below), which featured many datamoshed video artifacts.

On February 24th, 2009, YouTuber datamosher uploaded a datamosh instructional video (shown below, left). On August 2nd, 2007, YouTuber Michael Crowe uploaded a video titled "Takeshi Murata," which featured a montage of datamoshed videos (shown below). In 2006, a technique created by artists Betrand Planes and Christian Jacquemin transcodes one lossy video format into another was demonstrated with the modified DivX video codec DivXPrime.

According to the tech blog Bit_Synthesis published a post titled "Datamoshing – the Beauty of Glitch," the practice of datamoshing had been used by digital artists since at least 2005.
