What does 'minification' refer to in web development?

Minification refers specifically to the process of removing all unnecessary characters from source code without changing its functionality, which effectively reduces the file size. This includes stripping out whitespace, comments, and any other non-essential elements that do not impact the code's execution. By minimizing the amount of data that needs to be transferred over the network, it enhances the load times of web applications. This is particularly important for front-end resources like CSS and JavaScript files, making websites faster and more efficient.

The focus of minification is on optimizing the code for performance by decreasing its size, which distinguishes it from other practices such as compressing files, which typically involves different algorithms and may still include unnecessary characters that don't need to be minimized. Additionally, while adding comments may improve code clarity during development, it does not relate to the concept of minification. Lastly, converting files to different formats is a separate process entirely and does not align with the definition of minification.