SELECTING VARIOUS ALGORITHMS TO COMPRESS COLUMNS OF ANALYTIC DATA IN A READ-ONLY RELATIONAL DATABASE IN A MANNER THAT ALLOWS DECOMPRESSION OF THE COMPRESSED DATA USING MINIMAL SYSTEM RESOURCES

A method, computer program product and system for balancing compression efficiency against access performance. Source data is read from a database row by row and column by column within each row. Algorithm(s) are selected to compress the data read for each column. Algorithms are selected in a manner that closely maximizes the amount of data stored in a given amount of disk space but requires minimal system resources to decompress the compressed data. These algorithms are stored in a control block. Further, parameters that allow the read data to be stored in a compressed manner efficiently are stored in the control block. Upon a second reading of the source data, data is compressed column by column using the appropriate algorithms and parameters. The compressed data may then be decompressed using the appropriate algorithms and parameters. In this manner, a better balance may be realized between compression efficiency and access performance.