Contiguous data packets of a single communication session between endpoints are gathered for compression, and at least the payloads are compressed collectively via a single compressible buffer. The original headers, which may or may not be compressed, and the compressed payloads are transmitted from a sending packet compression device to a receiving packet compression device that performs decompression to the compressed payload and may also decompress headers if they have been compressed at the sending end. The original contiguous data packets including headers and payload may be reconstructed at the receiving packet compression device by matching the headers to the corresponding payloads. The reconstructed data packets are injected back into the single communication session, and the presence of the original headers in the reconstructed data packets may thereby maintain the endpoint-to-endpoint authentication protocols.