Apparatus and associated methods relate to compressing a sequence of binary data by encoding difference values between adjacent data in the sequence. For each datum in the sequence, the difference value may be determined by comparing the datum with an immediately preceding datum. For data, the determined difference may be expressible using few bits. The determined difference is encoded in subwords having subword lengths selected from a set of predetermined subword lengths. The selected subword lengths may be a minimum one of the set of predetermined subword sizes that is capable of representing the difference between the adjacent data. A size tag is generated for each subword encoded. The size tag identifies the size of the subword selected and used for encoding the determined difference. The difference may be encoded as a mathematical difference or as a bit pattern difference.