And what are the other advantages and purposes of SegWit in general? I just came across it, and I want to know more about it, so any explanation is welcome.
In short,
1. Lower transaction fee.
2. Higher block size limit, assuming there are SegWit transaction on the block.
Block Size Increase: While SegWit doesn't directly increase the block size, it allows for more transaction data to be included in each block by removing the signature data from the block size calculation. This effectively increases the block's capacity without requiring a hard fork.
Wrong. Nothing is removed from calculation, it's just witness data is calculated differently.
Lightning Network Support: SegWit lays the foundation for the implementation of the Lightning Network, a second-layer scaling solution that enables faster and cheaper off-chain transactions.
Theoretically LN is possible without SegWit. But since SegWit fix transaction malleability, it makes LN development easier.
Fee Reduction: By optimizing the way transaction data is stored in blocks, SegWit transactions can require less space, resulting in potentially lower transaction fees.
Inaccurate information. SegWit transaction doesn't always have lower size (in bytes unit), lower tx fee is achieved since witness data is calculated differently.