Which data retention solution should be applied to a file in order to reduce the data footprint by deleting fixed content and duplicate data?

The correct answer is archiving. Archiving is a data retention solution designed specifically to store and manage data that is not actively in use but still needs to be retained for compliance, legal, or business reasons. When files are archived, they are often compressed and can be deduplicated, which means that redundant copies of the same file are eliminated. This process significantly reduces the overall data footprint since the storage of both fixed content and duplicate data is minimized.

In contrast, backups are primarily intended for data recovery and are typically kept in full copies. Caching is about improving performance by keeping frequently accessed data readily available, and saving simply refers to the action of preserving a file without necessarily applying any retention policies. These alternatives do not inherently reduce the data footprint in the same effective way as archiving does.