diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d5a8b7896..719f7ea4e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ wal_rotate_interval | int | Frequency (in mintues) at which the WAL file will be
 stale_threshold | int | Threshold (in days) by which MarketStore will declare a symbol stale
 enable_add | bool | Allows new symbols to be added to DB via /write API
 enable_remove | bool | Allows symbols to be removed from DB via /write API  
+disable_variable_compression | bool | disables the default compression of variable data
 triggers | slice | List of trigger plugins
 bgworkers | slice | List of background worker plugins
 
diff --git a/cmd/start/main.go b/cmd/start/main.go
index 6178aea15..c6796271b 100644
--- a/cmd/start/main.go
+++ b/cmd/start/main.go
@@ -66,6 +66,11 @@ func executeStart(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse configuration file error: %v", err.Error())
 	}
 
+	if utils.InstanceConfig.DisableVariableCompression {
+		executor.Compressed = false
+	}
+
+
 	// Spawn a goroutine and listen for a signal.
 	signalChan := make(chan os.Signal)
 	go func() {
diff --git a/executor/readvariable.go b/executor/readvariable.go
index aac23a49f..fe5a53b6d 100644
--- a/executor/readvariable.go
+++ b/executor/readvariable.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package executor
 
 import (
+	"github.com/klauspost/compress/snappy"
 	"os"
 	"unsafe"
 
@@ -32,12 +33,13 @@ func (r *reader) readSecondStage(bufMeta []bufferMeta, limitCount int32, directi
 		/*
 			Calculate how much space is needed in the results buffer
 		*/
+		/*
 		numIndexRecords := len(indexBuffer) / 24 // Three fields, {epoch, offset, len}, 8 bytes each
 		var totalDatalen int
 		numberLeftToRead := int(limitCount)
 		for i := 0; i < numIndexRecords; i++ {
 			datalen := int(ToInt64(indexBuffer[i*24+16:]))
-			numVarRecords := datalen / varRecLen
+			numVarRecords := datalen / varRecLen // TODO: This doesn't work with compression
 			if direction == FIRST {
 				if numVarRecords >= numberLeftToRead {
 					numVarRecords = numberLeftToRead
@@ -46,10 +48,12 @@ func (r *reader) readSecondStage(bufMeta []bufferMeta, limitCount int32, directi
 			totalDatalen += numVarRecords * (varRecLen + 8)
 			numberLeftToRead -= numVarRecords
 		}
-
-		numberLeftToRead = int(limitCount)
-		rb = make([]byte, totalDatalen)
-		var rbCursor int
+		*/
+		numIndexRecords := len(indexBuffer) / 24 // Three fields, {epoch, offset, len}, 8 bytes each
+		numberLeftToRead := int(limitCount)
+		rb = make([]byte, 0)
+		//rb = make([]byte, totalDatalen)
+		//var rbCursor int
 		for i := 0; i < numIndexRecords; i++ {
 			intervalStartEpoch := ToInt64(indexBuffer[i*24:])
 			offset := ToInt64(indexBuffer[i*24+8:])
@@ -62,6 +66,13 @@ func (r *reader) readSecondStage(bufMeta []bufferMeta, limitCount int32, directi
 				return nil, err
 			}
 
+			if Compressed {
+				buffer, err = snappy.Decode(nil, buffer)
+				if err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+			}
+
 			// Loop over the variable records and prepend the index time to each
 			numVarRecords := len(buffer) / varRecLen
 			if direction == FIRST {
@@ -76,9 +87,9 @@ func (r *reader) readSecondStage(bufMeta []bufferMeta, limitCount int32, directi
 			C.rewriteBuffer(arg1, C.int(varRecLen), C.int(numVarRecords), arg4,
 				C.int64_t(md.Intervals), C.int64_t(intervalStartEpoch))
 
-			//rb = append(rb, rbTemp...)
-			copy(rb[rbCursor:], rbTemp)
-			rbCursor += len(rbTemp)
+			rb = append(rb, rbTemp...)
+			//copy(rb[rbCursor:], rbTemp)
+			//rbCursor += len(rbTemp)
 
 			numberLeftToRead -= numVarRecords
 			if direction == FIRST {
diff --git a/executor/writer.go b/executor/writer.go
index e02cdcc72..36b9ea01c 100644
--- a/executor/writer.go
+++ b/executor/writer.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package executor
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"github.com/klauspost/compress/snappy"
 	stdio "io"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
@@ -18,6 +19,8 @@ import (
 //#cgo CFLAGS: -O3 -Wno-ignored-optimization-argument
 import "C"
 
+var Compressed = true
+
 type Writer struct {
 	root *catalog.Directory
 	tgc  *TransactionPipe
@@ -185,8 +188,14 @@ func WriteBufferToFileIndirect(fp *os.File, buffer offsetIndexBuffer, varRecLen
 		if _, err := fp.Read(oldData); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+		if Compressed {
+			oldData, err = snappy.Decode(nil, oldData)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
 		dataToBeWritten = append(oldData, dataToBeWritten...)
-		dataLen = currentRecInfo.Len + dataLen
+		dataLen = int64(len(dataToBeWritten))
 	}
 
 	// Determine if this is a continuation write
@@ -208,9 +217,18 @@ func WriteBufferToFileIndirect(fp *os.File, buffer offsetIndexBuffer, varRecLen
 	/*
 		Write the data at the end of the file
 	*/
-	if _, err = fp.Write(dataToBeWritten); err != nil {
-		return err
+	if Compressed {
+		comp := snappy.Encode(nil, dataToBeWritten)
+		if _, err = fp.Write(comp); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		dataLen = int64(len(comp))
+	} else {
+		if _, err = fp.Write(dataToBeWritten); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 	}
+
 	//log.Info("LAL end_off:%d, len:%d, data:%v", endOfFileOffset, dataLen, dataToBeWritten)
 
 	/*
@@ -303,68 +321,3 @@ func WriteCSM(csm io.ColumnSeriesMap, isVariableLength bool) (err error) {
 	wal.RequestFlush()
 	return nil
 }
-
-/*
-Legacy functions
-*/
-func WriteBufferToFileIndirectOverwrite(fp *os.File, buffer offsetIndexBuffer) (err error) {
-	/*
-		Here we write the data payload of the buffer to the end of the data file
-	*/
-	primaryOffset := buffer.Offset() // Offset to storage of indirect record info
-	index := buffer.Index()
-	dataToBeWritten := buffer.Payload()
-	dataLen := int64(len(dataToBeWritten))
-
-	/*
-		Write the data at the end of the file
-	*/
-	endOfFileOffset, _ := fp.Seek(0, stdio.SeekEnd)
-	_, err = fp.Write(dataToBeWritten)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	/*
-		Now we write or update the index record
-		First we read the file at the index location to see if this is an incremental write
-	*/
-	fp.Seek(primaryOffset, stdio.SeekStart)
-	idBuf := make([]byte, 24) // {Index, Offset, Len}
-	_, err = fp.Read(idBuf)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	currentRecInfo := SwapSliceByte(idBuf, IndirectRecordInfo{}).([]IndirectRecordInfo)[0]
-	/*
-		The default is a new write at the end of the file
-	*/
-	targetRecInfo := IndirectRecordInfo{Index: index, Offset: endOfFileOffset, Len: dataLen}
-
-	/*
-		If this is a continuation write, we adjust the targetRecInfo accordingly
-	*/
-	if currentRecInfo.Index != 0 { // If the index from the file is 0, this is a new write
-		cursor := currentRecInfo.Offset + currentRecInfo.Len
-		if endOfFileOffset == cursor {
-			// Incremental write
-			targetRecInfo.Len += currentRecInfo.Len
-			targetRecInfo.Offset = currentRecInfo.Offset
-		}
-	}
-
-	/*
-		Write the indirect record info at the primaryOffset
-	*/
-	odata := []int64{targetRecInfo.Index, targetRecInfo.Offset, targetRecInfo.Len}
-	obuf := SwapSliceData(odata, byte(0)).([]byte)
-
-	fp.Seek(-24, stdio.SeekCurrent)
-	_, err = fp.Write(obuf)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index dc1cf57f0..01ace9f12 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/gorilla/rpc v1.1.0
 	github.com/gorilla/websocket v1.4.0
 	github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.0.0 // indirect
+	github.com/klauspost/compress v1.4.0
 	github.com/nats-io/gnatsd v1.3.0 // indirect
 	github.com/nats-io/go-nats v1.6.0
 	github.com/nats-io/nuid v1.0.0 // indirect
diff --git a/utils/config.go b/utils/config.go
index 300d58604..cfb710481 100644
--- a/utils/config.go
+++ b/utils/config.go
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ type MktsConfig struct {
 	EnableAdd         bool
 	EnableRemove      bool
 	EnableLastKnown   bool
+	DisableVariableCompression   bool
 	StartTime         time.Time
 	Triggers          []*TriggerSetting
 	BgWorkers         []*BgWorkerSetting
@@ -58,6 +59,7 @@ func (m *MktsConfig) Parse(data []byte) error {
 			EnableAdd         string `yaml:"enable_add"`
 			EnableRemove      string `yaml:"enable_remove"`
 			EnableLastKnown   string `yaml:"enable_last_known"`
+			DisableVariableCompression   string `yaml:"disable_variable_compression"`
 			Triggers          []struct {
 				Module string                 `yaml:"module"`
 				On     string                 `yaml:"on"`
@@ -148,6 +150,13 @@ func (m *MktsConfig) Parse(data []byte) error {
 
 	m.EnableLastKnown = false
 	log.Info("Disabling \"enable_last_known\" feature until it is fixed...")
+
+	if aux.DisableVariableCompression != "" {
+		m.DisableVariableCompression, err = strconv.ParseBool(aux.DisableVariableCompression)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Error("Invalid value for DisableVariableCompression")
+		}
+	}
 	/*
 		// Broken - disable for now
 		if aux.EnableLastKnown != "" {