A method is provided for compressing results of a join query. A join order of a result set comprising multiple tuples is determined from the join query, and a nested hierarchy of dictionaries is maintained based on the join order. The nested hierarchy of dictionaries is used to encode each of the tuples of the result set so as to produce an encode tuple, and each of the encoded tuples is transmitted to a client system. Also provided is a method for decompressing results of a join query.