Techniques are described for estimating and managing memory compression for request processing. Embodiments of the invention may generally include receiving a request for data, determining if the requested data contains any compressed data, and sending the requesting entity only the uncompressed data. A separate embodiment generally includes receiving a request for data, determining if the requested data contains any compressed data, gathering uncompression criteria about the requested data, and using the uncompression criteria to selectively determine what portion of the compressed data to uncompress.