What is a characteristic of lossless files?

Lossless files are designed to retain original data without any loss of quality during compression. This characteristic ensures that when a lossless file is decompressed, it will restore to its exact original state, maintaining the full fidelity of the audio, image, or video. This quality retention is essential for professional use in graphic design, music production, and video editing where any degradation would be unacceptable.

While options related to editing, ease of compression, and file size also present important aspects of file types, they do not specifically define lossless files in the same way that quality retention does. Editing capabilities can vary with file type, and while lossless files can be compressed, they tend to result in larger file sizes compared to lossy formats, which deliberately discard data to reduce size. The emphasis on high-quality retention is what makes the chosen answer the most accurate in defining a characteristic of lossless files.