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| ERROR_EXTERNAL_BACKING_PROVIDER_UNKNOWN | ERROR_STORAGE_TOPOLOGY_ID_MISMATCH |
ERROR_COMPRESSION_NOT_BENEFICIAL
The compressor found no worthwhile size reduction
Some data is already compressed, encrypted, highly random, or too small for the compression metadata and block overhead to save space. This status reports that compression is not beneficial for the supplied content. It is an efficiency result, not evidence that the input is corrupt or that the compression engine is unavailable.
Compare logical size, compressed size, and allocation size instead of assuming every file should shrink. Media formats, archives, encrypted payloads, and database pages may expand or save almost nothing. Applications should normally retain the original representation and continue without treating this code as fatal. Repeatedly recompressing the same unchanged data wastes CPU and can increase write amplification.
What to inspect
- Measure actual allocated size before and after the attempt.
- Recognize already-compressed or encrypted input formats.
- Treat the result as a policy decision rather than corruption.
References
- Microsoft: file compression and decompression
- MS-FSA: FSCTL_SET_COMPRESSION processing
- Microsoft: file-management control codes
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