A computer system includes a host system, a hardware controller and an operating system. The host system runs an application that includes at least one compression library and that outputs a compression request to compress a data stream having an initial data-representation size. The hardware controller compresses the data stream according to an encoding scheme indicated by the compression library to generate a compressed data stream having a reduced data-representation size with respect to the initial data-representation size. The operating system provides a communication interface between the hardware controller and the application allowing the exchange of protocol data blocks between the application and the hardware controller. A protocol data block identifies an update status of the compression library and the OS. The computer system selectively operates in a first compression mode and a second compression based on the update status, thereby varying a compression ratio of the compressed data stream.