What does minification accomplish in web development?

Minification in web development refers to the process of removing unnecessary characters from the code without changing its functionality. This typically includes eliminating whitespace, comments, and other non-essential elements that do not affect how the code is executed by the browser. By reducing the size of the code, minification helps improve load times and performance, as smaller files download faster over the internet.

The other options focus on aspects that are not associated with minification. For instance, increasing code readability would typically involve adding spaces, indentation, and comments, which goes against the purpose of minification. Adding comments to code is an effort to enhance understanding, which is also contrary to minification’s goal of reducing file size. Changing the file format of code is not a function of minification either, as the purpose is to retain the original format while just condensing it for efficiency.