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:

Add Compression Feature Flags

To use a compressor, add the relevant feature flag to your mongodb dependency's feature list in your project's Cargo.toml file.

Select the tab for your preferred compressor to see how to add the necessary feature flag to your mongodb dependency:

[dependencies.mongodb]
version = "3.8.2"
features = ["snappy-compression"]

[dependencies.mongodb]
version = "3.8.2"
features = ["zlib-compression"]

[dependencies.mongodb]
version = "3.8.2"
features = ["zstd-compression"]

Enable Network Compression

You can enable compression on your Client instance by specifying compressors in the following ways:

• Adding the compressors parameter to your connection string. To see an example that enables compression this way, see the Connection String section.

• Setting the compressors field of a ClientOptions instance. You can then pass the options to the with_options() method when instantiating a Client. To see an example that enables compression this way, see the ClientOptions section.

let uri = "mongodb+srv://<db_username>:<db_password>@<cluster-url>/?compressors=snappy,zlib,zstd";
let client = Client::with_uri_str(uri).await?;

let uri = "<connection string>";
let mut client_options = ClientOptions::parse(uri).await?;
let compressors = vec![
    Compressor::Snappy,
    Compressor::Zstd { level: Some(1) },
    Compressor::Zlib { level: None }
];
client_options.compressors = Some(compressors);
let client = Client::with_options(client_options)?;

Additional Information

For more information about the concepts in this guide, see the following documentation:

• Create a MongoDB Client

• Connection String Compression Options in the Server manual

• All Rust Driver Feature Flags