diff --git a/src/compress.zig b/src/compress.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8c1eac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/compress.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+
+const Allocator = std.mem.Allocator;
+
+pub const Codec = enum(u8) {
+    none = 0,
+    rle = 1,
+};
+
+const maxRun = 130;
+const maxLiteral = 128;
+
+pub fn rleCompress(allocator: Allocator, input: []const u8) ![]u8 {
+    var out = std.ArrayList(u8).init(allocator);
+    errdefer out.deinit();
+
+    var i: usize = 0;
+    while (i < input.len) {
+        var runLen: usize = 1;
+        while (i + runLen < input.len and input[i + runLen] == input[i] and runLen < maxRun) : (runLen += 1) {}
+
+        if (runLen >= 3) {
+            try out.append(0x80 | @as(u8, @intCast(runLen - 3)));
+            try out.append(input[i]);
+            i += runLen;
+            continue;
+        }
+
+        const litStart = i;
+        var litLen: usize = 0;
+        while (i < input.len and litLen < maxLiteral) {
+            var ahead: usize = 1;
+            while (i + ahead < input.len and input[i + ahead] == input[i] and ahead < 3) : (ahead += 1) {}
+            if (ahead >= 3) break;
+            i += 1;
+            litLen += 1;
+        }
+        try out.append(@as(u8, @intCast(litLen - 1)));
+        try out.appendSlice(input[litStart .. litStart + litLen]);
+    }
+
+    return out.toOwnedSlice();
+}
+
+pub fn rleDecompress(allocator: Allocator, input: []const u8, expectedLen: usize) ![]u8 {
+    var out = try allocator.alloc(u8, expectedLen);
+    errdefer allocator.free(out);
+
+    var written: usize = 0;
+    var i: usize = 0;
+    while (i < input.len) {
+        const control = input[i];
+        i += 1;
+        if (control & 0x80 != 0) {
+            const runLen: usize = @as(usize, control & 0x7f) + 3;
+            if (i >= input.len) return error.CorruptBlock;
+            const byte = input[i];
+            i += 1;
+            if (written + runLen > expectedLen) return error.CorruptBlock;
+            @memset(out[written .. written + runLen], byte);
+            written += runLen;
+        } else {
+            const litLen: usize = @as(usize, control) + 1;
+            if (i + litLen > input.len) return error.CorruptBlock;
+            if (written + litLen > expectedLen) return error.CorruptBlock;
+            @memcpy(out[written .. written + litLen], input[i .. i + litLen]);
+            written += litLen;
+            i += litLen;
+        }
+    }
+    if (written != expectedLen) return error.CorruptBlock;
+    return out;
+}
+
+pub const Encoded = struct {
+    codec: Codec,
+    bytes: []u8,
+
+    pub fn deinit(self: Encoded, allocator: Allocator) void {
+        allocator.free(self.bytes);
+    }
+};
+
+pub fn encode(allocator: Allocator, input: []const u8) !Encoded {
+    const compressed = try rleCompress(allocator, input);
+    if (compressed.len < input.len) {
+        return .{ .codec = .rle, .bytes = compressed };
+    }
+    allocator.free(compressed);
+    return .{ .codec = .none, .bytes = try allocator.dupe(u8, input) };
+}
+
+pub fn decode(allocator: Allocator, codec: Codec, payload: []const u8, originalLen: usize) ![]u8 {
+    return switch (codec) {
+        .none => allocator.dupe(u8, payload),
+        .rle => rleDecompress(allocator, payload, originalLen),
+    };
+}