**EDIT** I would think that: ******uncompressed data* is data that was never altered ******decompressed data* is data that has been compressed, then returned to its original state by the process of *decompression*. Decompress and uncompress seem to be used synonymously in the context of computing, although decompress seems to be used more frequently. A search on MSDN for **[uncompress*][1]** returns 731 hits, while **[decompress*][2]** returns 4,450 hits. Seaching on SO gives similar results. There are - 22 questions tagged with **[uncompress][3]** - none tagged with uncompression, - 651 occurrences of uncompress and - 34 occurrences of uncompression. Total tag count = 22 Total word count = 685 In contrast, there are - 39 questions tagged with **[decompress][4]** - 110 questions tagged with **[decompression][5]** - 1,467 occurrences of decompress and - 865 occurrences of decompression. Total tag count = 149 Total word count = 2,332 [1]: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Search/en-US?query=uncompress*&beta=0&ac=8 "Query MSDN English for uncompress with wildcard suffix" [2]: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Search/en-US?query=decompress*&beta=0&ac=3 "Query MSDN English for decompress with wildcard suffix" [3]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/uncompress "uncompress tag count on SO" [4]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/decompress "decompress tag count on SO" [5]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/decompression "decompression tag on SO"