Data compression is everywhere, you need it to store data without taking too much space. Either the compression loses some data (then we talk about lossy compression, such as .jpg) or it does not (and then it is lossless compression, such as .png)
Lossless compression is mainly used for archive purpose as it allows storing data without losing information about the file archived. On the other hand, lossy compression is used for transfer of file where quality isn't necessarily what is required (i.e: images on Twitter).