Editing Data degradation (section)

{{Short description|Accumulation of data corruption on a storage device over time}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Distinguish|Software rot}}
{{Original research|date=April 2015}}

'''Data degradation''' is the gradual [[Data corruption|corruption]] of [[Data (computing)|computer data]] due to an accumulation of non-critical failures in a [[data storage device]]. It is also referred to as '''data decay''', '''data rot''' or '''bit rot'''.<ref name="Rouse_2020"/> This results in a decline in data quality over time, even when the data is not being utilized. The concept of data degradation involves progressively minimizing data in interconnected processes, where data is used for multiple purposes at different levels of detail. At specific points in the process chain, data is irreversibly reduced to a level that remains sufficient for the successful completion of the following steps<ref name="Zaman_2020"/>