A compression system trains a machine-learned encoder and decoder. The encoder can be deployed by a sender system to encode content for transmission to a receiver system, and the decoder can be deployed by the receiver system to decode the encoded content and reconstruct the original content. The encoder receives content and generates a tensor as a compact representation of the content. The content may be, for example, images, videos, or text. The decoder receives a tensor and generates a reconstructed version of the content. In one embodiment, the compression system trains one or more encoding components such that the encoder can adaptively encode different degrees of information for regions in the content that are associated with characteristic objects, such as human faces, texts, or buildings.