Techniques for optimizing data reduction by understanding application data

Techniques for determining data reduction options may include: receiving first data reduction information regarding compression and deduplication of chunks of a data set; determining, in accordance with the first data reduction information for the data set, first settings denoting whether compression and deduplication are enabled or disabled for the data set; receiving, during a first time period when the first settings are effective, writes directed to the data set; receiving second data reduction information regarding compression and deduplication of chunks of the data set modified by writes during the first time period; and determining, in accordance with the second plurality of data reduction statistics for the data set, second settings denoting whether compression and deduplication are enabled or disabled for the data set. Data reduction information about the data set may include histograms regarding compressed sizes and detected duplications and may include data reduction information regarding different data set regions.