Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a computer-implemented method for data compression. The method includes monitoring data, from a data stream, stored in an input buffer and system memory of a data compression system. The method further includes choosing an encoding scheme based in part upon the amount of data in the input buffer. The method further includes encoding data using the encoding scheme to compress the data from the data stream. The method further includes reevaluating, during the data stream, an encoding scheme choice based in part upon the amount of data in the input buffer.