Systems and methods for compressing data

A method for predicting the compression rate of a particular compression algorithm upon a data stream before applying the compression algorithm to the data stream. The method utilizes a predefined threshold value and an estimated compression rate to determine whether the data stream should be compressed. If the estimated compression rate is below the threshold value, the compression algorithm will not be applied to the data stream. If the estimated compression rate is above the threshold, the compression algorithm will be applied. For example, if a series of data streams are transmitted over a wireless connection, the claimed method will determine which data streams can be successfully compressed and which data streams have already been compressed.