Compress Network Traffic

Overview

MongoDB drivers can compress the messages sent to and received from MongoDB Server. This reduces the amount of data transferred for each operation. Compression can improve performance over constrained networks and lower the data transfer costs associated with running MongoDB Atlas.

Compression operates at the wire protocol level, so it applies to every operation that your application performs. If you specify more than one algorithm, the driver uses the first algorithm in your list that MongoDB Server also supports.

Network Compression Benefits

MongoDB Atlas charges for data transferred across cloud regions, cloud providers, and between your infrastructure and MongoDB Atlas. Network compression reduces the amount of data that your application sends and receives, which can lower these data transfer costs. To learn more about pricing, see Data Transfer Costs.

Network compression also has productivity benefits. Compressed messages take less time to transfer across the network, which can improve your application's response times. Compression also reduces the bandwidth that your MongoDB traffic uses, which leaves more bandwidth available for other applications on the same network.

When you choose a compression algorithm, consider the following guidelines:

• Use Zstandard for a balance of compression efficiency and resource usage. Zstandard is a good default choice for most applications.

• Use Snappy for latency-sensitive applications that require minimal computational overhead.

• Use Zlib for broad compatibility across MongoDB drivers and environments.

Version Compatibility

The following table lists the minimum supported driver and MongoDB Server version for each compression algorithm:

Specify Compression Algorithms

To enable compression for the connection to your MongoDB instance, specify the algorithms you want to use in one of the following ways:

1. Add the algorithms to your connection string as a parameter

2. Specify the algorithms in the Compressors property of your MongoClientSettings object

const string connectionUri =
  "mongodb+srv://<db_username>:<db_password>@<cluster-url>/?compressors=snappy,zlib,zstd";
var client = new MongoClient(connectionUri);

var settings = new MongoClientSettings()
{
   Scheme = ConnectionStringScheme.MongoDB,
   Server = new MongoServerAddress("<cluster-url>"),
   Compressors = new List<CompressorConfiguration>()
   {
      new CompressorConfiguration(CompressorType.Snappy),
      new CompressorConfiguration(CompressorType.Zlib),
      new CompressorConfiguration(CompressorType.Zstandard)
   }
};
var client = new MongoClient(settings);