diff --git a/compaction.go b/compaction.go
index eb27f335940..66296668239 100644
--- a/compaction.go
+++ b/compaction.go
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ const (
 	compactionKindDeleteOnly
 	compactionKindElisionOnly
 	compactionKindRead
+	compactionKindTombstoneDensity
 	compactionKindRewrite
 	compactionKindIngestedFlushable
 )
@@ -153,6 +154,8 @@ func (k compactionKind) String() string {
 		return "elision-only"
 	case compactionKindRead:
 		return "read"
+	case compactionKindTombstoneDensity:
+		return "tombstone-density"
 	case compactionKindRewrite:
 		return "rewrite"
 	case compactionKindIngestedFlushable:
diff --git a/compaction_picker.go b/compaction_picker.go
index 5911c4a1301..e5a8828d7fa 100644
--- a/compaction_picker.go
+++ b/compaction_picker.go
@@ -592,6 +592,7 @@ func newCompactionPickerByScore(
 		virtualBackings: virtualBackings,
 	}
 	p.initLevelMaxBytes(inProgressCompactions)
+	p.initTombstoneDensityAnnotator(opts)
 	return p
 }
 
@@ -672,6 +673,11 @@ type compactionPickerByScore struct {
 	// levelMaxBytes holds the dynamically adjusted max bytes setting for each
 	// level.
 	levelMaxBytes [numLevels]int64
+	// tombstoneDensityAnnotator holds the annotator for choosing tombstone
+	// density compactions.
+	// NB: This is declared here rather than globally because
+	// options.Experimental.MinTombstoneDenseRatio is not known until runtime.
+	tombstoneDensityAnnotator *manifest.Annotator[fileMetadata]
 }
 
 var _ compactionPicker = &compactionPickerByScore{}
@@ -1287,6 +1293,13 @@ func (p *compactionPickerByScore) pickAuto(env compactionEnv) (pc *pickedCompact
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Check for files which contain excessive point tombstones that could slow
+	// down reads. Unlike elision-only compactions, these compactions may select
+	// a file at any level rather than only the lowest level.
+	if pc := p.pickTombstoneDensityCompaction(env); pc != nil {
+		return pc
+	}
+
 	// Check for L6 files with tombstones that may be elided. These files may
 	// exist if a snapshot prevented the elision of a tombstone or because of
 	// a move compaction. These are low-priority compactions because they
@@ -1415,6 +1428,38 @@ var markedForCompactionAnnotator = &manifest.Annotator[fileMetadata]{
 	},
 }
 
+// pickedCompactionFromCandidateFile creates a pickedCompaction from a *fileMetadata
+// with various checks to ensure that the file still exists in the expected level
+// and isn't already being compacted.
+func (p *compactionPickerByScore) pickedCompactionFromCandidateFile(
+	candidate *fileMetadata, env compactionEnv, startLevel int, outputLevel int, kind compactionKind,
+) *pickedCompaction {
+	if candidate == nil || candidate.IsCompacting() {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	inputs := p.vers.Levels[startLevel].Find(p.opts.Comparer.Compare, candidate)
+	if inputs.Empty() {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("file %s not found in level %d as expected", candidate.FileNum, startLevel))
+	}
+
+	pc := newPickedCompaction(p.opts, p.vers, startLevel, outputLevel, p.baseLevel)
+	pc.kind = kind
+	pc.startLevel.files = inputs
+	pc.smallest, pc.largest = manifest.KeyRange(pc.cmp, pc.startLevel.files.Iter())
+
+	// Fail-safe to protect against compacting the same sstable concurrently.
+	if inputRangeAlreadyCompacting(env, pc) {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	if !pc.setupInputs(p.opts, env.diskAvailBytes, pc.startLevel) {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return pc
+}
+
 // pickElisionOnlyCompaction looks for compactions of sstables in the
 // bottommost level containing obsolete records that may now be dropped.
 func (p *compactionPickerByScore) pickElisionOnlyCompaction(
@@ -1427,28 +1472,10 @@ func (p *compactionPickerByScore) pickElisionOnlyCompaction(
 	if candidate == nil {
 		return nil
 	}
-	if candidate.IsCompacting() || candidate.LargestSeqNum >= env.earliestSnapshotSeqNum {
+	if candidate.LargestSeqNum >= env.earliestSnapshotSeqNum {
 		return nil
 	}
-	lf := p.vers.Levels[numLevels-1].Find(p.opts.Comparer.Compare, candidate)
-	if lf.Empty() {
-		panic(fmt.Sprintf("file %s not found in level %d as expected", candidate.FileNum, numLevels-1))
-	}
-
-	// Construct a picked compaction of the elision candidate's atomic
-	// compaction unit.
-	pc = newPickedCompaction(p.opts, p.vers, numLevels-1, numLevels-1, p.baseLevel)
-	pc.kind = compactionKindElisionOnly
-	pc.startLevel.files = lf
-	if anyTablesCompacting(lf) {
-		return nil
-	}
-	pc.smallest, pc.largest = manifest.KeyRange(pc.cmp, pc.startLevel.files.Iter())
-	// Fail-safe to protect against compacting the same sstable concurrently.
-	if !inputRangeAlreadyCompacting(env, pc) {
-		return pc
-	}
-	return nil
+	return p.pickedCompactionFromCandidateFile(candidate, env, numLevels-1, numLevels-1, compactionKindElisionOnly)
 }
 
 // pickRewriteCompaction attempts to construct a compaction that
@@ -1463,36 +1490,59 @@ func (p *compactionPickerByScore) pickRewriteCompaction(env compactionEnv) (pc *
 			// Try the next level.
 			continue
 		}
-		if candidate.IsCompacting() {
-			// Try the next level.
-			continue
-		}
-		lf := p.vers.Levels[l].Find(p.opts.Comparer.Compare, candidate)
-		if lf.Empty() {
-			panic(fmt.Sprintf("file %s not found in level %d as expected", candidate.FileNum, numLevels-1))
+		pc := p.pickedCompactionFromCandidateFile(candidate, env, l, l, compactionKindRewrite)
+		if pc != nil {
+			return pc
 		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
 
-		inputs := lf
-		if anyTablesCompacting(inputs) {
-			// Try the next level.
-			continue
-		}
+func (p *compactionPickerByScore) initTombstoneDensityAnnotator(opts *Options) {
+	p.tombstoneDensityAnnotator = &manifest.Annotator[fileMetadata]{
+		Aggregator: manifest.PickFileAggregator{
+			Filter: func(f *fileMetadata) (eligible bool, cacheOK bool) {
+				if f.IsCompacting() {
+					return false, true
+				}
+				if !f.StatsValid() {
+					return false, false
+				}
+				return f.Stats.TombstoneDenseBlocksRatio > opts.Experimental.TombstoneDenseCompactionThreshold, true
+			},
+			Compare: func(a, b *fileMetadata) bool {
+				return a.Stats.TombstoneDenseBlocksRatio > b.Stats.TombstoneDenseBlocksRatio
+			},
+		},
+	}
+}
 
-		pc = newPickedCompaction(p.opts, p.vers, l, l, p.baseLevel)
-		pc.outputLevel.level = l
-		pc.kind = compactionKindRewrite
-		pc.startLevel.files = inputs
-		pc.smallest, pc.largest = manifest.KeyRange(pc.cmp, pc.startLevel.files.Iter())
+// pickTombstoneDensityCompaction looks for a compaction that eliminates
+// regions of extremely high point tombstone density. For each level, it picks
+// a file where the ratio of tombstone-dense blocks is at least
+// options.Experimental.MinTombstoneDenseRatio, prioritizing compaction of
+// files with higher ratios of tombstone-dense blocks.
+func (p *compactionPickerByScore) pickTombstoneDensityCompaction(
+	env compactionEnv,
+) (pc *pickedCompaction) {
+	if p.opts.Experimental.TombstoneDenseCompactionThreshold == -1 {
+		// Tombstone density compactions are disabled.
+		return nil
+	}
 
-		// Fail-safe to protect against compacting the same sstable concurrently.
-		if !inputRangeAlreadyCompacting(env, pc) {
-			if pc.startLevel.level == 0 {
-				pc.startLevel.l0SublevelInfo = generateSublevelInfo(pc.cmp, pc.startLevel.files)
-			}
-			return pc
+	var candidate *fileMetadata
+	var level int
+	// NB: We don't consider L0 or the lowest level.
+	for l := 1; l < numLevels-1; l++ {
+		f := p.tombstoneDensityAnnotator.LevelAnnotation(p.vers.Levels[l])
+		newCandidate := p.tombstoneDensityAnnotator.Aggregator.Merge(f, candidate)
+		if newCandidate != candidate {
+			candidate = newCandidate
+			level = l
 		}
 	}
-	return nil
+
+	return p.pickedCompactionFromCandidateFile(candidate, env, level, defaultOutputLevel(level, p.baseLevel), compactionKindTombstoneDensity)
 }
 
 // pickAutoLPositive picks an automatic compaction for the candidate
diff --git a/compaction_picker_test.go b/compaction_picker_test.go
index bd2edb32d8b..481f4a6cd16 100644
--- a/compaction_picker_test.go
+++ b/compaction_picker_test.go
@@ -517,6 +517,7 @@ func TestCompactionPickerL0(t *testing.T) {
 			}
 			vs.picker = picker
 			picker.initLevelMaxBytes(inProgressCompactions)
+			picker.initTombstoneDensityAnnotator(opts)
 
 			var buf bytes.Buffer
 			fmt.Fprint(&buf, version.String())
diff --git a/internal/manifest/version.go b/internal/manifest/version.go
index a179d0382a2..1adc62f2b3c 100644
--- a/internal/manifest/version.go
+++ b/internal/manifest/version.go
@@ -75,6 +75,16 @@ type TableStats struct {
 	ValueBlocksSize uint64
 	// CompressionType is the compression type of the table.
 	CompressionType block.Compression
+	// TombstoneDenseBlocksRatio is the ratio of data blocks in this table that
+	// fulfills at least one of the following:
+	// 1. The block contains at least options.Experimental.NumDeletionsThreshold
+	//    point tombstones.
+	// 2. The ratio of the uncompressed size of point tombstones to the
+	//    uncompressed size of the block is at least
+	//    options.Experimental.DeletionSizeRatioThreshold.
+	// This statistic is used to determine eligibility for a tombstone density
+	// compaction.
+	TombstoneDenseBlocksRatio float64
 }
 
 // boundType represents the type of key (point or range) present as the smallest
diff --git a/metrics.go b/metrics.go
index 6d2d60ce1c2..05678f42b22 100644
--- a/metrics.go
+++ b/metrics.go
@@ -153,16 +153,17 @@ type Metrics struct {
 
 	Compact struct {
 		// The total number of compactions, and per-compaction type counts.
-		Count             int64
-		DefaultCount      int64
-		DeleteOnlyCount   int64
-		ElisionOnlyCount  int64
-		CopyCount         int64
-		MoveCount         int64
-		ReadCount         int64
-		RewriteCount      int64
-		MultiLevelCount   int64
-		CounterLevelCount int64
+		Count                 int64
+		DefaultCount          int64
+		DeleteOnlyCount       int64
+		ElisionOnlyCount      int64
+		CopyCount             int64
+		MoveCount             int64
+		ReadCount             int64
+		TombstoneDensityCount int64
+		RewriteCount          int64
+		MultiLevelCount       int64
+		CounterLevelCount     int64
 		// An estimate of the number of bytes that need to be compacted for the LSM
 		// to reach a stable state.
 		EstimatedDebt uint64
@@ -580,12 +581,13 @@ func (m *Metrics) SafeFormat(w redact.SafePrinter, _ rune) {
 		redact.Safe(m.Compact.NumInProgress),
 		humanize.Bytes.Int64(m.Compact.InProgressBytes))
 
-	w.Printf("             default: %d  delete: %d  elision: %d  move: %d  read: %d  rewrite: %d  copy: %d  multi-level: %d\n",
+	w.Printf("             default: %d  delete: %d  elision: %d  move: %d  read: %d  tombstone-density: %d  rewrite: %d  copy: %d  multi-level: %d\n",
 		redact.Safe(m.Compact.DefaultCount),
 		redact.Safe(m.Compact.DeleteOnlyCount),
 		redact.Safe(m.Compact.ElisionOnlyCount),
 		redact.Safe(m.Compact.MoveCount),
 		redact.Safe(m.Compact.ReadCount),
+		redact.Safe(m.Compact.TombstoneDensityCount),
 		redact.Safe(m.Compact.RewriteCount),
 		redact.Safe(m.Compact.CopyCount),
 		redact.Safe(m.Compact.MultiLevelCount))
diff --git a/metrics_test.go b/metrics_test.go
index 9b1d3a17a46..4e34afd9067 100644
--- a/metrics_test.go
+++ b/metrics_test.go
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ func exampleMetrics() Metrics {
 	m.Compact.ElisionOnlyCount = 29
 	m.Compact.MoveCount = 30
 	m.Compact.ReadCount = 31
+	m.Compact.TombstoneDensityCount = 16
 	m.Compact.RewriteCount = 32
 	m.Compact.CopyCount = 33
 	m.Compact.MultiLevelCount = 34
diff --git a/options.go b/options.go
index 18a21fef2b7..ba2cd508d9d 100644
--- a/options.go
+++ b/options.go
@@ -599,6 +599,38 @@ type Options struct {
 		// gets multiplied with a constant of 1 << 16 to yield 1 << 20 (1MB).
 		ReadSamplingMultiplier int64
 
+		// NumDeletionsThreshold defines the minimum number of point tombstones
+		// that must be present in a single data block for that block to be
+		// considered tombstone-dense for the purposes of triggering a
+		// tombstone density compaction. Data blocks may also be considered
+		// tombstone-dense if they meet the criteria defined by
+		// DeletionSizeRatioThreshold below. Tombstone-dense blocks are identified
+		// when sstables are written, and so this is effectively an option for
+		// sstable writers. The default value is 100.
+		NumDeletionsThreshold int
+
+		// DeletionSizeRatioThreshold defines the minimum ratio of the size of
+		// point tombstones to the size of a data block that must be reached
+		// for that block to be considered tombstone-dense for the purposes of
+		// triggering a tombstone density compaction. Data blocks may also be
+		// considered tombstone-dense if they meet the criteria defined by
+		// NumDeletionsThreshold above. Tombstone-dense blocks are identified
+		// when sstables are written, and so this is effectively an option for
+		// sstable writers. The default value is 0.5.
+		DeletionSizeRatioThreshold float32
+
+		// TombstoneDenseCompactionThreshold is the minimum percent of data
+		// blocks in a table that must be tombstone-dense for that table to be
+		// eligible for a tombstone density compaction. It should be defined as a
+		// ratio out of 1. The default value is 0.05.
+		//
+		// If multiple tables are eligible for a tombstone density compaction, then
+		// tables with a higher percent of tombstone-dense blocks are still
+		// prioritized for compaction.
+		//
+		// A value of -1 disables tombstone density compactions.
+		TombstoneDenseCompactionThreshold float64
+
 		// TableCacheShards is the number of shards per table cache.
 		// Reducing the value can reduce the number of idle goroutines per DB
 		// instance which can be useful in scenarios with a lot of DB instances
@@ -1268,6 +1300,15 @@ func (o *Options) EnsureDefaults() *Options {
 	if o.Experimental.ReadSamplingMultiplier == 0 {
 		o.Experimental.ReadSamplingMultiplier = 1 << 4
 	}
+	if o.Experimental.NumDeletionsThreshold == 0 {
+		o.Experimental.NumDeletionsThreshold = sstable.DefaultNumDeletionsThreshold
+	}
+	if o.Experimental.DeletionSizeRatioThreshold == 0 {
+		o.Experimental.DeletionSizeRatioThreshold = sstable.DefaultDeletionSizeRatioThreshold
+	}
+	if o.Experimental.TombstoneDenseCompactionThreshold == 0 {
+		o.Experimental.TombstoneDenseCompactionThreshold = 0.05
+	}
 	if o.Experimental.TableCacheShards <= 0 {
 		o.Experimental.TableCacheShards = runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0)
 	}
@@ -1395,6 +1436,9 @@ func (o *Options) String() string {
 	}
 	fmt.Fprintf(&buf, "  read_compaction_rate=%d\n", o.Experimental.ReadCompactionRate)
 	fmt.Fprintf(&buf, "  read_sampling_multiplier=%d\n", o.Experimental.ReadSamplingMultiplier)
+	fmt.Fprintf(&buf, "  num_deletions_threshold=%d\n", o.Experimental.NumDeletionsThreshold)
+	fmt.Fprintf(&buf, "  deletion_size_ratio_threshold=%f\n", o.Experimental.DeletionSizeRatioThreshold)
+	fmt.Fprintf(&buf, "  tombstone_dense_compaction_threshold=%f\n", o.Experimental.TombstoneDenseCompactionThreshold)
 	// We no longer care about strict_wal_tail, but set it to true in case an
 	// older version reads the options.
 	fmt.Fprintf(&buf, "  strict_wal_tail=%t\n", true)
@@ -1711,6 +1755,14 @@ func (o *Options) Parse(s string, hooks *ParseHooks) error {
 				o.Experimental.ReadCompactionRate, err = strconv.ParseInt(value, 10, 64)
 			case "read_sampling_multiplier":
 				o.Experimental.ReadSamplingMultiplier, err = strconv.ParseInt(value, 10, 64)
+			case "num_deletions_threshold":
+				o.Experimental.NumDeletionsThreshold, err = strconv.Atoi(value)
+			case "deletion_size_ratio_threshold":
+				val, parseErr := strconv.ParseFloat(value, 32)
+				o.Experimental.DeletionSizeRatioThreshold = float32(val)
+				err = parseErr
+			case "tombstone_dense_compaction_threshold":
+				o.Experimental.TombstoneDenseCompactionThreshold, err = strconv.ParseFloat(value, 64)
 			case "table_cache_shards":
 				o.Experimental.TableCacheShards, err = strconv.Atoi(value)
 			case "table_format":
@@ -1985,6 +2037,8 @@ func (o *Options) MakeWriterOptions(level int, format sstable.TableFormat) sstab
 	writerOpts.FilterType = levelOpts.FilterType
 	writerOpts.IndexBlockSize = levelOpts.IndexBlockSize
 	writerOpts.AllocatorSizeClasses = o.AllocatorSizeClasses
+	writerOpts.NumDeletionsThreshold = o.Experimental.NumDeletionsThreshold
+	writerOpts.DeletionSizeRatioThreshold = o.Experimental.DeletionSizeRatioThreshold
 	return writerOpts
 }
 
diff --git a/options_test.go b/options_test.go
index 2476340d798..b09742d537d 100644
--- a/options_test.go
+++ b/options_test.go
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@ func TestOptionsString(t *testing.T) {
   multilevel_compaction_heuristic=wamp(0.00, false)
   read_compaction_rate=16000
   read_sampling_multiplier=16
+  num_deletions_threshold=100
+  deletion_size_ratio_threshold=0.500000
+  tombstone_dense_compaction_threshold=0.050000
   strict_wal_tail=true
   table_cache_shards=8
   validate_on_ingest=false
@@ -285,6 +288,9 @@ func TestOptionsParse(t *testing.T) {
 			}
 			opts.Experimental.ReadCompactionRate = 300
 			opts.Experimental.ReadSamplingMultiplier = 400
+			opts.Experimental.NumDeletionsThreshold = 500
+			opts.Experimental.DeletionSizeRatioThreshold = 0.7
+			opts.Experimental.TombstoneDenseCompactionThreshold = 0.2
 			opts.Experimental.TableCacheShards = 500
 			opts.Experimental.MaxWriterConcurrency = 1
 			opts.Experimental.ForceWriterParallelism = true
diff --git a/replay/replay.go b/replay/replay.go
index c6e47285743..0e2809e6f96 100644
--- a/replay/replay.go
+++ b/replay/replay.go
@@ -97,15 +97,16 @@ func (pra PaceByFixedReadAmp) pace(r *Runner, _ workloadStep) time.Duration {
 // Metrics holds the various statistics on a replay run and its performance.
 type Metrics struct {
 	CompactionCounts struct {
-		Total       int64
-		Default     int64
-		DeleteOnly  int64
-		ElisionOnly int64
-		Move        int64
-		Read        int64
-		Rewrite     int64
-		Copy        int64
-		MultiLevel  int64
+		Total            int64
+		Default          int64
+		DeleteOnly       int64
+		ElisionOnly      int64
+		Move             int64
+		Read             int64
+		TombstoneDensity int64
+		Rewrite          int64
+		Copy             int64
+		MultiLevel       int64
 	}
 	EstimatedDebt SampledMetric
 	Final         *pebble.Metrics
@@ -556,6 +557,7 @@ func (r *Runner) Wait() (Metrics, error) {
 	m.CompactionCounts.ElisionOnly = pm.Compact.ElisionOnlyCount
 	m.CompactionCounts.Move = pm.Compact.MoveCount
 	m.CompactionCounts.Read = pm.Compact.ReadCount
+	m.CompactionCounts.TombstoneDensity = pm.Compact.TombstoneDensityCount
 	m.CompactionCounts.Rewrite = pm.Compact.RewriteCount
 	m.CompactionCounts.Copy = pm.Compact.CopyCount
 	m.CompactionCounts.MultiLevel = pm.Compact.MultiLevelCount
diff --git a/replay/testdata/replay b/replay/testdata/replay
index 89fdda344ff..6fb775dec7c 100644
--- a/replay/testdata/replay
+++ b/replay/testdata/replay
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ tree
        0      LOCK
       98      MANIFEST-000001
      122      MANIFEST-000008
-    1240      OPTIONS-000003
+    1359      OPTIONS-000003
        0      marker.format-version.000001.013
        0      marker.manifest.000002.MANIFEST-000008
             simple/
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ tree
       25        000004.log
      586        000005.sst
       98        MANIFEST-000001
-    1240        OPTIONS-000003
+    1359        OPTIONS-000003
        0        marker.format-version.000001.013
        0        marker.manifest.000001.MANIFEST-000001
 
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ cat build/OPTIONS-000003
   multilevel_compaction_heuristic=wamp(0.00, false)
   read_compaction_rate=16000
   read_sampling_multiplier=16
+  num_deletions_threshold=100
+  deletion_size_ratio_threshold=0.500000
+  tombstone_dense_compaction_threshold=0.050000
   strict_wal_tail=true
   table_cache_shards=2
   validate_on_ingest=false
diff --git a/replay/testdata/replay_paced b/replay/testdata/replay_paced
index 15a95de63f3..fdaa2a96eb5 100644
--- a/replay/testdata/replay_paced
+++ b/replay/testdata/replay_paced
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ tree
        0      LOCK
      122      MANIFEST-000008
      205      MANIFEST-000011
-    1240      OPTIONS-000003
+    1359      OPTIONS-000003
        0      marker.format-version.000001.013
        0      marker.manifest.000003.MANIFEST-000011
             high_read_amp/
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ tree
       39        000009.log
      560        000010.sst
      157        MANIFEST-000011
-    1240        OPTIONS-000003
+    1359        OPTIONS-000003
        0        marker.format-version.000001.013
        0        marker.manifest.000001.MANIFEST-000011
 
diff --git a/sstable/options.go b/sstable/options.go
index 724e0cd8d72..4d9f24646a1 100644
--- a/sstable/options.go
+++ b/sstable/options.go
@@ -12,8 +12,18 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/sstable/rowblk"
 )
 
-// MaximumBlockSize is the maximum permissible size of a block.
-const MaximumBlockSize = rowblk.MaximumSize
+const (
+	// MaximumBlockSize is the maximum permissible size of a block.
+	MaximumBlockSize = rowblk.MaximumSize
+	// DefaultNumDeletionsThreshold defines the minimum number of point
+	// tombstones that must be present in a data block for it to be
+	// considered tombstone-dense.
+	DefaultNumDeletionsThreshold = 100
+	// DefaultDeletionSizeRatioThreshold defines the minimum ratio of the size
+	// of point tombstones to the size of the data block in order to consider the
+	// block as tombstone-dense.
+	DefaultDeletionSizeRatioThreshold = 0.5
+)
 
 var ignoredInternalProperties = map[string]struct{}{
 	"rocksdb.column.family.id":             {},
@@ -244,6 +254,13 @@ type WriterOptions struct {
 
 	// internal options can only be used from within the pebble package.
 	internal sstableinternal.WriterOptions
+
+	// NumDeletionsThreshold mirrors Options.Experimental.NumDeletionsThreshold.
+	NumDeletionsThreshold int
+
+	// DeletionSizeRatioThreshold mirrors
+	// Options.Experimental.DeletionSizeRatioThreshold.
+	DeletionSizeRatioThreshold float32
 }
 
 // SetInternal sets the internal writer options. Note that even though this
@@ -286,5 +303,11 @@ func (o WriterOptions) ensureDefaults() WriterOptions {
 	if o.TableFormat == TableFormatUnspecified {
 		o.TableFormat = TableFormatMinSupported
 	}
+	if o.NumDeletionsThreshold == 0 {
+		o.NumDeletionsThreshold = DefaultNumDeletionsThreshold
+	}
+	if o.DeletionSizeRatioThreshold == 0 {
+		o.DeletionSizeRatioThreshold = DefaultDeletionSizeRatioThreshold
+	}
 	return o
 }
diff --git a/sstable/properties.go b/sstable/properties.go
index 8b597d11c6a..9e10b82361e 100644
--- a/sstable/properties.go
+++ b/sstable/properties.go
@@ -100,6 +100,13 @@ type CommonProperties struct {
 	NumRangeKeySets uint64 `prop:"pebble.num.range-key-sets"`
 	// Total size of value blocks and value index block. Only serialized if > 0.
 	ValueBlocksSize uint64 `prop:"pebble.value-blocks.size"`
+	// NumDataBlocks is the number of data blocks in this table.
+	NumDataBlocks uint64 `prop:"rocksdb.num.data.blocks"`
+	// NumTombstoneDenseBlocks is the number of data blocks in this table that
+	// are considered tombstone-dense. See the TombstoneDenseBlocksRatio field
+	// in manifest.TableStats for the criteria used to determine if a data
+	// block is tombstone-dense.
+	NumTombstoneDenseBlocks uint64 `prop:"pebble.num.tombstone-dense-blocks"`
 	// The compression algorithm used to compress blocks.
 	CompressionName string `prop:"rocksdb.compression"`
 	// The compression options used to compress blocks.
@@ -150,8 +157,6 @@ type Properties struct {
 	IsStrictObsolete bool `prop:"pebble.obsolete.is_strict"`
 	// The name of the merger used in this table. Empty if no merger is used.
 	MergerName string `prop:"rocksdb.merge.operator"`
-	// The number of blocks in this table.
-	NumDataBlocks uint64 `prop:"rocksdb.num.data.blocks"`
 	// The number of merge operands in the table.
 	NumMergeOperands uint64 `prop:"rocksdb.merge.operands"`
 	// The number of RANGEKEYUNSETs in this table.
@@ -401,6 +406,9 @@ func (p *Properties) save(tblFormat TableFormat, w *rowblk.Writer) {
 	if p.ValueBlocksSize > 0 {
 		p.saveUvarint(m, unsafe.Offsetof(p.ValueBlocksSize), p.ValueBlocksSize)
 	}
+	if p.NumTombstoneDenseBlocks != 0 {
+		p.saveUvarint(m, unsafe.Offsetof(p.NumTombstoneDenseBlocks), p.NumTombstoneDenseBlocks)
+	}
 
 	if tblFormat < TableFormatPebblev1 {
 		m["rocksdb.column.family.id"] = binary.AppendUvarint([]byte(nil), math.MaxInt32)
diff --git a/sstable/properties_test.go b/sstable/properties_test.go
index aaf585026f5..1cb6d4e0cca 100644
--- a/sstable/properties_test.go
+++ b/sstable/properties_test.go
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ func TestPropertiesLoad(t *testing.T) {
 			NumRangeDeletions:  17,
 			RawKeySize:         23938,
 			RawValueSize:       1912,
+			NumDataBlocks:      14,
 			CompressionName:    "Snappy",
 			CompressionOptions: "window_bits=-14; level=32767; strategy=0; max_dict_bytes=0; zstd_max_train_bytes=0; enabled=0; ",
 		},
@@ -36,7 +37,6 @@ func TestPropertiesLoad(t *testing.T) {
 		DataSize:               13913,
 		IndexSize:              325,
 		MergerName:             "nullptr",
-		NumDataBlocks:          14,
 		PropertyCollectorNames: "[]",
 	}
 
@@ -60,15 +60,17 @@ func TestPropertiesLoad(t *testing.T) {
 
 var testProps = Properties{
 	CommonProperties: CommonProperties{
-		NumDeletions:       15,
-		NumEntries:         16,
-		NumRangeDeletions:  18,
-		NumRangeKeyDels:    19,
-		NumRangeKeySets:    20,
-		RawKeySize:         25,
-		RawValueSize:       26,
-		CompressionName:    "compression name",
-		CompressionOptions: "compression option",
+		NumDeletions:            15,
+		NumEntries:              16,
+		NumRangeDeletions:       18,
+		NumRangeKeyDels:         19,
+		NumRangeKeySets:         20,
+		RawKeySize:              25,
+		RawValueSize:            26,
+		NumDataBlocks:           14,
+		NumTombstoneDenseBlocks: 2,
+		CompressionName:         "compression name",
+		CompressionOptions:      "compression option",
 	},
 	ComparerName:           "comparator name",
 	DataSize:               3,
@@ -79,7 +81,6 @@ var testProps = Properties{
 	IndexType:              12,
 	IsStrictObsolete:       true,
 	MergerName:             "merge operator name",
-	NumDataBlocks:          14,
 	NumMergeOperands:       17,
 	NumRangeKeyUnsets:      21,
 	NumValueBlocks:         22,
diff --git a/sstable/raw_writer.go b/sstable/raw_writer.go
index 163d746b03e..5434ce71719 100644
--- a/sstable/raw_writer.go
+++ b/sstable/raw_writer.go
@@ -206,6 +206,9 @@ type RawWriter struct {
 	valueBlockWriter *valueBlockWriter
 
 	allocatorSizeClasses []int
+
+	numDeletionsThreshold      int
+	deletionSizeRatioThreshold float32
 }
 
 type pointKeyInfo struct {
@@ -591,6 +594,15 @@ type dataBlockBuf struct {
 
 	// sepScratch is reusable scratch space for computing separator keys.
 	sepScratch []byte
+
+	// numDeletions stores the count of point tombstones in this data block.
+	// It's used to determine if this data block is considered tombstone-dense
+	// for the purposes of compaction.
+	numDeletions int
+	// deletionSize stores the raw size of point tombstones in this data block.
+	// It's used to determine if this data block is considered tombstone-dense
+	// for the purposes of compaction.
+	deletionSize int
 }
 
 func (d *dataBlockBuf) clear() {
@@ -928,7 +940,9 @@ func (w *RawWriter) addPoint(key InternalKey, value []byte, forceObsolete bool)
 	switch key.Kind() {
 	case InternalKeyKindDelete, InternalKeyKindSingleDelete:
 		w.props.NumDeletions++
+		w.dataBlockBuf.numDeletions++
 		w.props.RawPointTombstoneKeySize += uint64(len(key.UserKey))
+		w.dataBlockBuf.deletionSize += len(key.UserKey)
 	case InternalKeyKindDeleteSized:
 		var size uint64
 		if len(value) > 0 {
@@ -942,7 +956,9 @@ func (w *RawWriter) addPoint(key InternalKey, value []byte, forceObsolete bool)
 		}
 		w.props.NumDeletions++
 		w.props.NumSizedDeletions++
+		w.dataBlockBuf.numDeletions++
 		w.props.RawPointTombstoneKeySize += uint64(len(key.UserKey))
+		w.dataBlockBuf.deletionSize += len(key.UserKey)
 		w.props.RawPointTombstoneValueSize += size
 	case InternalKeyKindMerge:
 		w.props.NumMergeOperands++
@@ -1134,6 +1150,20 @@ func (w *RawWriter) maybeAddToFilter(key []byte) {
 	}
 }
 
+// maybeIncrementTombstoneDenseBlocks increments the number of tombstone dense
+// blocks if the number of deletions in the data block exceeds a threshold or
+// the deletion size exceeds a threshold. It should be called after the
+// data block has been finished.
+// Invariant: w.dataBlockBuf.uncompressed must already be populated.
+func (w *RawWriter) maybeIncrementTombstoneDenseBlocks() {
+	minSize := w.deletionSizeRatioThreshold * float32(len(w.dataBlockBuf.uncompressed))
+	if w.dataBlockBuf.numDeletions > w.numDeletionsThreshold || float32(w.dataBlockBuf.deletionSize) > minSize {
+		w.props.NumTombstoneDenseBlocks++
+	}
+	w.dataBlockBuf.numDeletions = 0
+	w.dataBlockBuf.deletionSize = 0
+}
+
 func (w *RawWriter) flush(key InternalKey) error {
 	// We're finishing a data block.
 	err := w.finishDataBlockProps(w.dataBlockBuf)
@@ -1141,6 +1171,7 @@ func (w *RawWriter) flush(key InternalKey) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	w.dataBlockBuf.finish()
+	w.maybeIncrementTombstoneDenseBlocks()
 	w.dataBlockBuf.compressAndChecksum(w.compression)
 	// Since dataBlockEstimates.addInflightDataBlock was never called, the
 	// inflightSize is set to 0.
@@ -1695,7 +1726,9 @@ func (w *RawWriter) Close() (err error) {
 	// Finish the last data block, or force an empty data block if there
 	// aren't any data blocks at all.
 	if w.dataBlockBuf.dataBlock.EntryCount() > 0 || w.indexBlock.block.EntryCount() == 0 {
-		bh, err := w.layout.WriteDataBlock(w.dataBlockBuf.dataBlock.Finish(), &w.dataBlockBuf.blockBuf)
+		w.dataBlockBuf.finish()
+		w.maybeIncrementTombstoneDenseBlocks()
+		bh, err := w.layout.WriteDataBlock(w.dataBlockBuf.uncompressed, &w.dataBlockBuf.blockBuf)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -1885,24 +1918,26 @@ func NewRawWriter(writable objstorage.Writable, o WriterOptions) *RawWriter {
 			blockSizeThreshold:      (o.IndexBlockSize*o.BlockSizeThreshold + 99) / 100,
 			sizeClassAwareThreshold: (o.IndexBlockSize*o.SizeClassAwareThreshold + 99) / 100,
 		},
-		compare:               o.Comparer.Compare,
-		suffixCmp:             o.Comparer.CompareSuffixes,
-		split:                 o.Comparer.Split,
-		formatKey:             o.Comparer.FormatKey,
-		compression:           o.Compression,
-		separator:             o.Comparer.Separator,
-		successor:             o.Comparer.Successor,
-		tableFormat:           o.TableFormat,
-		isStrictObsolete:      o.IsStrictObsolete,
-		writingToLowestLevel:  o.WritingToLowestLevel,
-		restartInterval:       o.BlockRestartInterval,
-		checksumType:          o.Checksum,
-		disableKeyOrderChecks: o.internal.DisableKeyOrderChecks,
-		indexBlock:            newIndexBlockBuf(o.Parallelism),
-		rangeDelBlock:         rowblk.Writer{RestartInterval: 1},
-		rangeKeyBlock:         rowblk.Writer{RestartInterval: 1},
-		topLevelIndexBlock:    rowblk.Writer{RestartInterval: 1},
-		allocatorSizeClasses:  o.AllocatorSizeClasses,
+		compare:                    o.Comparer.Compare,
+		suffixCmp:                  o.Comparer.CompareSuffixes,
+		split:                      o.Comparer.Split,
+		formatKey:                  o.Comparer.FormatKey,
+		compression:                o.Compression,
+		separator:                  o.Comparer.Separator,
+		successor:                  o.Comparer.Successor,
+		tableFormat:                o.TableFormat,
+		isStrictObsolete:           o.IsStrictObsolete,
+		writingToLowestLevel:       o.WritingToLowestLevel,
+		restartInterval:            o.BlockRestartInterval,
+		checksumType:               o.Checksum,
+		disableKeyOrderChecks:      o.internal.DisableKeyOrderChecks,
+		indexBlock:                 newIndexBlockBuf(o.Parallelism),
+		rangeDelBlock:              rowblk.Writer{RestartInterval: 1},
+		rangeKeyBlock:              rowblk.Writer{RestartInterval: 1},
+		topLevelIndexBlock:         rowblk.Writer{RestartInterval: 1},
+		allocatorSizeClasses:       o.AllocatorSizeClasses,
+		numDeletionsThreshold:      o.NumDeletionsThreshold,
+		deletionSizeRatioThreshold: o.DeletionSizeRatioThreshold,
 	}
 	if w.tableFormat >= TableFormatPebblev3 {
 		w.shortAttributeExtractor = o.ShortAttributeExtractor
diff --git a/sstable/reader_virtual.go b/sstable/reader_virtual.go
index 37dd6770a76..85944ec3778 100644
--- a/sstable/reader_virtual.go
+++ b/sstable/reader_virtual.go
@@ -76,6 +76,8 @@ func MakeVirtualReader(reader *Reader, p VirtualReaderParams) VirtualReader {
 	v.Properties.NumDeletions = scale(reader.Properties.NumDeletions)
 	v.Properties.NumRangeDeletions = scale(reader.Properties.NumRangeDeletions)
 	v.Properties.NumRangeKeyDels = scale(reader.Properties.NumRangeKeyDels)
+	v.Properties.NumDataBlocks = scale(reader.Properties.NumDataBlocks)
+	v.Properties.NumTombstoneDenseBlocks = scale(reader.Properties.NumTombstoneDenseBlocks)
 
 	// Note that we rely on NumRangeKeySets for correctness. If the sstable may
 	// contain range keys, then NumRangeKeySets must be > 0. ceilDiv works because
diff --git a/sstable/testdata/virtual_reader_props b/sstable/testdata/virtual_reader_props
index 49253c0c5ac..7d041960fa8 100644
--- a/sstable/testdata/virtual_reader_props
+++ b/sstable/testdata/virtual_reader_props
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ props:
   rocksdb.num.entries: 1
   rocksdb.raw.key.size: 3
   rocksdb.raw.value.size: 1
+  rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
 
 # Test 2: Similar to test 1 but force two level iterators.
 build block-size=1 index-block-size=1
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ props:
   rocksdb.num.entries: 1
   rocksdb.raw.key.size: 2
   rocksdb.raw.value.size: 1
+  rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
 
 # Test the constrain bounds function. It performs some subtle shrinking and
 # expanding of bounds. The current virtual sstable bounds are [b,c].
@@ -121,6 +123,7 @@ props:
   rocksdb.deleted.keys: 1
   rocksdb.num.range-deletions: 1
   pebble.num.range-key-sets: 1
+  rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
 
 build
 a.SET.1:a
@@ -143,3 +146,4 @@ props:
   rocksdb.num.entries: 2
   rocksdb.raw.key.size: 10
   rocksdb.raw.value.size: 2
+  rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
diff --git a/table_stats.go b/table_stats.go
index cfd1af0f46a..a6776e81988 100644
--- a/table_stats.go
+++ b/table_stats.go
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ func (d *DB) collectTableStats() bool {
 		maybeCompact = maybeCompact || fileCompensation(c.fileMetadata) > 0
 		c.fileMetadata.StatsMarkValid()
 	}
+
 	d.mu.tableStats.cond.Broadcast()
 	d.maybeCollectTableStatsLocked()
 	if len(hints) > 0 && !d.opts.private.disableDeleteOnlyCompactions {
@@ -308,6 +309,11 @@ func (d *DB) loadTableStats(
 			props := r.CommonProperties()
 			stats.NumEntries = props.NumEntries
 			stats.NumDeletions = props.NumDeletions
+			stats.NumRangeKeySets = props.NumRangeKeySets
+			stats.ValueBlocksSize = props.ValueBlocksSize
+			stats.CompressionType = block.CompressionFromString(props.CompressionName)
+			stats.TombstoneDenseBlocksRatio = float64(props.NumTombstoneDenseBlocks) / float64(props.NumDataBlocks)
+
 			if props.NumPointDeletions() > 0 {
 				if err = d.loadTablePointKeyStats(props, v, level, meta, &stats); err != nil {
 					return
@@ -320,12 +326,6 @@ func (d *DB) loadTableStats(
 					return
 				}
 			}
-			// TODO(travers): Once we have real-world data, consider collecting
-			// additional stats that may provide improved heuristics for compaction
-			// picking.
-			stats.NumRangeKeySets = props.NumRangeKeySets
-			stats.ValueBlocksSize = props.ValueBlocksSize
-			stats.CompressionType = block.CompressionFromString(props.CompressionName)
 			return
 		})
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/testdata/event_listener b/testdata/event_listener
index 34b61403a05..58687697d07 100644
--- a/testdata/event_listener
+++ b/testdata/event_listener
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ total |     3  1.7KB     0B       0 |     - |  671B |     1   590B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 48B  written: 81B (69% overhead)
 Flushes: 3
 Compactions: 1  estimated debt: 1.7KB  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 1 (256KB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ total |     6  3.5KB     0B       0 |     - | 1.8KB |     3  1.7KB |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 82B  written: 108B (32% overhead)
 Flushes: 6
 Compactions: 1  estimated debt: 3.5KB  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (512KB)  zombie: 1 (512KB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
diff --git a/testdata/ingest b/testdata/ingest
index 48930711d1a..08f8995a99a 100644
--- a/testdata/ingest
+++ b/testdata/ingest
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ total |     1   569B     0B       0 |     - |  569B |     1   569B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 0B  written: 0B (0% overhead)
 Flushes: 0
 Compactions: 0  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 0 (0B)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ Virtual tables: 0 (0B)
 Local tables size: 569B
 Compression types: snappy: 1
 Block cache: 6 entries (945B)  hit rate: 30.8%
-Table cache: 1 entries (736B)  hit rate: 50.0%
+Table cache: 1 entries (744B)  hit rate: 50.0%
 Secondary cache: 0 entries (0B)  hit rate: 0.0%
 Snapshots: 0  earliest seq num: 0
 Table iters: 0
diff --git a/testdata/metrics b/testdata/metrics
index 5760286df07..6ecb18e5aab 100644
--- a/testdata/metrics
+++ b/testdata/metrics
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ total |  2.8K  2.7KB     0B    2.8K |     - | 2.8KB |  2.9K  2.8KB |  2.9K  2.8K
 WAL: 22 files (24B)  in: 25B  written: 26B (4% overhead)
 Flushes: 8
 Compactions: 5  estimated debt: 6B  in progress: 2 (7B)
-             default: 27  delete: 28  elision: 29  move: 30  read: 31  rewrite: 32  copy: 33  multi-level: 34
+             default: 27  delete: 28  elision: 29  move: 30  read: 31  tombstone-density: 16  rewrite: 32  copy: 33  multi-level: 34
 MemTables: 12 (11B)  zombie: 14 (13B)
 Zombie tables: 16 (15B, local: 30B)
 Backing tables: 1 (2.0MB)
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ total |     1   589B     0B       0 |     - |   28B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 17B  written: 28B (65% overhead)
 Flushes: 1
 Compactions: 0  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 1 (256KB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ Virtual tables: 0 (0B)
 Local tables size: 589B
 Compression types: snappy: 1
 Block cache: 3 entries (484B)  hit rate: 0.0%
-Table cache: 1 entries (736B)  hit rate: 0.0%
+Table cache: 1 entries (744B)  hit rate: 0.0%
 Secondary cache: 0 entries (0B)  hit rate: 0.0%
 Snapshots: 0  earliest seq num: 0
 Table iters: 1
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ Ingestions: 0  as flushable: 0 (0B in 0 tables)
 
 disk-usage
 ----
-1.9KB
+2.0KB
 
 batch
 set b 2
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ total |     1   595B     0B       0 |     - |   56B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 34B  written: 56B (65% overhead)
 Flushes: 2
 Compactions: 1  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 2 (512KB)
 Zombie tables: 2 (1.2KB, local: 1.2KB)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ Virtual tables: 0 (0B)
 Local tables size: 595B
 Compression types: snappy: 1
 Block cache: 5 entries (946B)  hit rate: 33.3%
-Table cache: 2 entries (1.4KB)  hit rate: 66.7%
+Table cache: 2 entries (1.5KB)  hit rate: 66.7%
 Secondary cache: 0 entries (0B)  hit rate: 0.0%
 Snapshots: 0  earliest seq num: 0
 Table iters: 2
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ Iter category stats:
 
 disk-usage
 ----
-3.2KB
+3.3KB
 
 # Closing iter a will release one of the zombie memtables.
 
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ total |     1   595B     0B       0 |     - |   56B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 34B  written: 56B (65% overhead)
 Flushes: 2
 Compactions: 1  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 2 (512KB)
 Zombie tables: 2 (1.2KB, local: 1.2KB)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ Virtual tables: 0 (0B)
 Local tables size: 595B
 Compression types: snappy: 1
 Block cache: 5 entries (946B)  hit rate: 33.3%
-Table cache: 2 entries (1.4KB)  hit rate: 66.7%
+Table cache: 2 entries (1.5KB)  hit rate: 66.7%
 Secondary cache: 0 entries (0B)  hit rate: 0.0%
 Snapshots: 0  earliest seq num: 0
 Table iters: 2
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ total |     1   595B     0B       0 |     - |   56B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 34B  written: 56B (65% overhead)
 Flushes: 2
 Compactions: 1  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 2 (512KB)
 Zombie tables: 1 (589B, local: 589B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ Virtual tables: 0 (0B)
 Local tables size: 595B
 Compression types: snappy: 1
 Block cache: 3 entries (484B)  hit rate: 33.3%
-Table cache: 1 entries (736B)  hit rate: 66.7%
+Table cache: 1 entries (744B)  hit rate: 66.7%
 Secondary cache: 0 entries (0B)  hit rate: 0.0%
 Snapshots: 0  earliest seq num: 0
 Table iters: 1
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ Iter category stats:
 
 disk-usage
 ----
-2.6KB
+2.7KB
 
 # Closing iter b will release the last zombie sstable and the last zombie memtable.
 
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ total |     1   595B     0B       0 |     - |   56B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 34B  written: 56B (65% overhead)
 Flushes: 2
 Compactions: 1  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 1 (256KB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ Iter category stats:
 
 disk-usage
 ----
-2.0KB
+2.1KB
 
 additional-metrics
 ----
@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@ total |     4  2.6KB    38B       0 |     - |  149B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 116B  written: 149B (28% overhead)
 Flushes: 3
 Compactions: 1  estimated debt: 2.6KB  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 1 (256KB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ total |     3  2.0KB    41B       0 |     - |  149B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 116B  written: 149B (28% overhead)
 Flushes: 3
 Compactions: 2  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 2  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 2  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 1 (256KB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -480,7 +480,7 @@ total |     7  4.3KB    41B       0 |     - | 1.9KB |     3  1.7KB |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 176B  written: 187B (6% overhead)
 Flushes: 8
 Compactions: 2  estimated debt: 4.3KB  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 2  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 2  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (1.0MB)  zombie: 1 (1.0MB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -488,7 +488,7 @@ Virtual tables: 0 (0B)
 Local tables size: 4.3KB
 Compression types: snappy: 7
 Block cache: 12 entries (1.9KB)  hit rate: 9.1%
-Table cache: 1 entries (736B)  hit rate: 53.8%
+Table cache: 1 entries (744B)  hit rate: 53.8%
 Secondary cache: 0 entries (0B)  hit rate: 0.0%
 Snapshots: 0  earliest seq num: 0
 Table iters: 0
@@ -543,7 +543,7 @@ total |    10  6.1KB    41B       0 |     - | 2.0KB |     3  1.7KB |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 223B  written: 245B (10% overhead)
 Flushes: 9
 Compactions: 2  estimated debt: 6.1KB  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 2  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 2  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (1.0MB)  zombie: 1 (1.0MB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -551,7 +551,7 @@ Virtual tables: 0 (0B)
 Local tables size: 6.1KB
 Compression types: snappy: 10
 Block cache: 12 entries (1.9KB)  hit rate: 9.1%
-Table cache: 1 entries (736B)  hit rate: 53.8%
+Table cache: 1 entries (744B)  hit rate: 53.8%
 Secondary cache: 0 entries (0B)  hit rate: 0.0%
 Snapshots: 0  earliest seq num: 0
 Table iters: 0
@@ -620,7 +620,7 @@ total |    11  5.6KB    41B       2 |     - | 2.5KB |     4  2.3KB |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 223B  written: 245B (10% overhead)
 Flushes: 9
 Compactions: 2  estimated debt: 5.6KB  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 2  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 2  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (1.0MB)  zombie: 1 (1.0MB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 2 (1.2KB)
@@ -722,7 +722,7 @@ total |     6  3.8KB    41B       0 |     - | 3.1KB |     5  2.9KB |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 223B  written: 245B (10% overhead)
 Flushes: 9
 Compactions: 3  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 3  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 3  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (1.0MB)  zombie: 1 (1.0MB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -776,7 +776,7 @@ total |     1   604B     0B       0 |     - |   38B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 27B  written: 38B (41% overhead)
 Flushes: 1
 Compactions: 0  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 1 (256KB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -814,7 +814,7 @@ total |     1   604B     0B       0 |     - |   38B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 27B  written: 38B (41% overhead)
 Flushes: 1
 Compactions: 1  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 1  multi-level: 0
+             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 1  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 1 (256KB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -822,7 +822,7 @@ Virtual tables: 0 (0B)
 Local tables size: 0B
 Compression types: snappy: 1
 Block cache: 1 entries (440B)  hit rate: 0.0%
-Table cache: 1 entries (736B)  hit rate: 0.0%
+Table cache: 1 entries (744B)  hit rate: 0.0%
 Secondary cache: 0 entries (0B)  hit rate: 0.0%
 Snapshots: 0  earliest seq num: 0
 Table iters: 0
@@ -861,7 +861,7 @@ total |     2  1.2KB     0B       0 |     - |  627B |     1   589B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 27B  written: 38B (41% overhead)
 Flushes: 1
 Compactions: 1  estimated debt: 1.2KB  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 1  multi-level: 0
+             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 1  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 1 (256KB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -869,7 +869,7 @@ Virtual tables: 0 (0B)
 Local tables size: 0B
 Compression types: snappy: 2
 Block cache: 6 entries (996B)  hit rate: 0.0%
-Table cache: 1 entries (736B)  hit rate: 50.0%
+Table cache: 1 entries (744B)  hit rate: 50.0%
 Secondary cache: 0 entries (0B)  hit rate: 0.0%
 Snapshots: 0  earliest seq num: 0
 Table iters: 0
@@ -909,7 +909,7 @@ total |     3  1.7KB     0B       0 |     - |  655B |     1   589B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 44B  written: 66B (50% overhead)
 Flushes: 2
 Compactions: 1  estimated debt: 1.7KB  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 1  multi-level: 0
+             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 1  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 1 (256KB)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -917,7 +917,7 @@ Virtual tables: 0 (0B)
 Local tables size: 589B
 Compression types: snappy: 3
 Block cache: 6 entries (996B)  hit rate: 0.0%
-Table cache: 1 entries (736B)  hit rate: 50.0%
+Table cache: 1 entries (744B)  hit rate: 50.0%
 Secondary cache: 0 entries (0B)  hit rate: 0.0%
 Snapshots: 0  earliest seq num: 0
 Table iters: 0
@@ -948,7 +948,7 @@ total |     3  1.7KB     0B       0 |     - |    0B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 0B  written: 0B (0% overhead)
 Flushes: 0
 Compactions: 0  estimated debt: 1.7KB  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 0 (0B)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -986,7 +986,7 @@ total |     1   603B     0B       0 |     - |    0B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 1 files (0B)  in: 0B  written: 0B (0% overhead)
 Flushes: 0
 Compactions: 1  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 1  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 0 (0B)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
diff --git a/testdata/table_stats b/testdata/table_stats
index 4ab5a40da80..ba1bbc4eeaf 100644
--- a/testdata/table_stats
+++ b/testdata/table_stats
@@ -602,6 +602,7 @@ rocksdb:
   rocksdb.raw.value.size: 2
   rocksdb.deleted.keys: 1
   rocksdb.num.range-deletions: 0
+  rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
   rocksdb.compression: Snappy
   rocksdb.compression_options: window_bits=-14; level=32767; strategy=0; max_dict_bytes=0; zstd_max_train_bytes=0; enabled=0; 
   rocksdb.comparator: pebble.internal.testkeys
@@ -610,7 +611,6 @@ rocksdb:
   rocksdb.index.size: 27
   rocksdb.block.based.table.index.type: 0
   rocksdb.merge.operator: pebble.concatenate
-  rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
   rocksdb.merge.operands: 0
   rocksdb.property.collectors: [obsolete-key]
 pebble:
@@ -655,6 +655,7 @@ rocksdb.raw.key.size: 3
 rocksdb.raw.value.size: 1
 pebble.raw.point-tombstone.key.size: 1
 rocksdb.deleted.keys: 1
+rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
 
 properties file=8
 ----
@@ -663,6 +664,7 @@ rocksdb.raw.key.size: 3
 rocksdb.raw.value.size: 1
 pebble.raw.point-tombstone.key.size: 1
 rocksdb.deleted.keys: 1
+rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
 
 wait-pending-table-stats
 000007
@@ -710,6 +712,7 @@ rocksdb:
   rocksdb.raw.value.size: 3
   rocksdb.deleted.keys: 0
   rocksdb.num.range-deletions: 0
+  rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
   rocksdb.compression: Snappy
   rocksdb.compression_options: window_bits=-14; level=32767; strategy=0; max_dict_bytes=0; zstd_max_train_bytes=0; enabled=0; 
   rocksdb.comparator: pebble.internal.testkeys
@@ -718,7 +721,6 @@ rocksdb:
   rocksdb.index.size: 27
   rocksdb.block.based.table.index.type: 0
   rocksdb.merge.operator: pebble.concatenate
-  rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
   rocksdb.merge.operands: 0
   rocksdb.property.collectors: [obsolete-key]
 pebble:
@@ -768,6 +770,7 @@ rocksdb.num.entries: 1
 rocksdb.raw.key.size: 2
 rocksdb.raw.value.size: 1
 pebble.num.range-key-sets: 1
+rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
 
 properties file=13
 ----
@@ -775,6 +778,7 @@ rocksdb.num.entries: 1
 rocksdb.raw.key.size: 2
 rocksdb.raw.value.size: 1
 pebble.num.range-key-sets: 1
+rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
 
 wait-pending-table-stats
 000012
@@ -832,6 +836,7 @@ rocksdb:
   rocksdb.raw.value.size: 1
   rocksdb.deleted.keys: 1
   rocksdb.num.range-deletions: 1
+  rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
   rocksdb.compression: Snappy
   rocksdb.compression_options: window_bits=-14; level=32767; strategy=0; max_dict_bytes=0; zstd_max_train_bytes=0; enabled=0; 
   rocksdb.comparator: pebble.internal.testkeys
@@ -840,7 +845,6 @@ rocksdb:
   rocksdb.index.size: 29
   rocksdb.block.based.table.index.type: 0
   rocksdb.merge.operator: pebble.concatenate
-  rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
   rocksdb.merge.operands: 0
   rocksdb.property.collectors: [obsolete-key]
 pebble:
@@ -874,6 +878,7 @@ rocksdb.raw.key.size: 1
 rocksdb.raw.value.size: 1
 rocksdb.deleted.keys: 1
 rocksdb.num.range-deletions: 1
+rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
 
 properties file=21
 ----
@@ -882,6 +887,7 @@ rocksdb.raw.key.size: 1
 rocksdb.raw.value.size: 1
 rocksdb.deleted.keys: 1
 rocksdb.num.range-deletions: 1
+rocksdb.num.data.blocks: 1
 
 wait-pending-table-stats
 000020
diff --git a/tool/testdata/db_lsm b/tool/testdata/db_lsm
index ab491677480..a0ae12ed665 100644
--- a/tool/testdata/db_lsm
+++ b/tool/testdata/db_lsm
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ total |     1   709B     0B       0 |     - |    0B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 0 files (0B)  in: 0B  written: 0B (0% overhead)
 Flushes: 0
 Compactions: 0  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 0 (0B)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ total |     1   709B     0B       0 |     - |    0B |     0     0B |     0     0
 WAL: 0 files (0B)  in: 0B  written: 0B (0% overhead)
 Flushes: 0
 Compactions: 0  estimated debt: 0B  in progress: 0 (0B)
-             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
+             default: 0  delete: 0  elision: 0  move: 0  read: 0  tombstone-density: 0  rewrite: 0  copy: 0  multi-level: 0
 MemTables: 1 (256KB)  zombie: 0 (0B)
 Zombie tables: 0 (0B, local: 0B)
 Backing tables: 0 (0B)
diff --git a/tool/testdata/sstable_properties b/tool/testdata/sstable_properties
index a6cfcc116f5..a324a7b7269 100644
Binary files a/tool/testdata/sstable_properties and b/tool/testdata/sstable_properties differ
diff --git a/version_set.go b/version_set.go
index c0ec1758fbb..2762aed0016 100644
--- a/version_set.go
+++ b/version_set.go
@@ -842,6 +842,10 @@ func (vs *versionSet) incrementCompactions(
 		vs.metrics.Compact.Count++
 		vs.metrics.Compact.ReadCount++
 
+	case compactionKindTombstoneDensity:
+		vs.metrics.Compact.Count++
+		vs.metrics.Compact.TombstoneDensityCount++
+
 	case compactionKindRewrite:
 		vs.metrics.Compact.Count++
 		vs.metrics.Compact.RewriteCount++