diff --git a/algo/CMakeLists.txt b/algo/CMakeLists.txt
index b57bfe43b8a7bb07a8638a580b70cc2244ef2677..19dacfe7d7988a80ee71cfd342b2228bc576a048 100644
--- a/algo/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/algo/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ if (CBM_ONLINE_STANDALONE)
   list(PREPEND CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH ${SIMPATH})
 
   find_package(OpenMP REQUIRED)
-  find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS serialization regex filesystem log log_setup container program_options thread)
+  find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS serialization regex filesystem log log_setup container program_options thread iostreams)
   find_package(ROOT CONFIG REQUIRED GenVector)
   find_package(Vc 1.4.1 CONFIG REQUIRED)
   find_package(fmt CONFIG REQUIRED)
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ target_link_libraries(Algo
             fmt::fmt
             Boost::program_options
             Boost::filesystem
+            Boost::iostreams
             Boost::headers
             xpu
             external::yaml-cpp
@@ -226,7 +227,7 @@ install(
     global/RecoResultsOutputArchive.h
     global/StorableRecoResults.h
     ca/TrackingChain.h
-    # NOTE: SZh 20.11.2023: 
+    # NOTE: SZh 20.11.2023:
     #       The ca/qa directory depends on the online qa classes, so for now it has to be a part of the Algo library.
     ca/qa/CaQaBuilder.h
     ca/qa/CaQaConfig.h
diff --git a/algo/base/BuildInfo.h b/algo/base/BuildInfo.h
index e96a9cb89c3d4ffa69058a13f983fca5c417276d..d044534a545f184c491114841cb10b052982d2ab 100644
--- a/algo/base/BuildInfo.h
+++ b/algo/base/BuildInfo.h
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@
 #define HAVE_OMP
 #endif
 
+// Ensure we have the boost compression header AND flesnet is compiled with compression enabled
+#if __has_include(<boost/iostreams/filter/zstd.hpp>) && defined(BOOST_IOS_HAS_ZSTD)
+#define HAVE_ZSTD
+#endif
+
 namespace cbm::algo::BuildInfo
 {
 
@@ -42,6 +47,13 @@ namespace cbm::algo::BuildInfo
     false;
 #endif
 
+  inline constexpr bool WITH_ZSTD =
+#ifdef HAVE_ZSTD
+    true;
+#else
+    false;
+#endif
+
 }  // namespace cbm::algo::BuildInfo
 
 #endif  // CBM_ALGO_BUILD_INFO_H
diff --git a/algo/base/Options.cxx b/algo/base/Options.cxx
index b69c98ee2f5d9219d1c459e62168e4fd0be4264d..536eb6fefd754479e439931ea14d647d47fe3507 100644
--- a/algo/base/Options.cxx
+++ b/algo/base/Options.cxx
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ Options::Options(int argc, char** argv)
       "write log messages to file")
     ("output-types,O", po::value(&fOutputTypes)->multitoken()->value_name("<types>"),
       "space seperated list of reconstruction output types (hit, digi, ...)")
+    ("compress-archive", po::bool_switch(&fCompressArchive)->default_value(false), "Enable compression for output archives")
     ("steps", po::value(&fRecoSteps)->multitoken()->default_value({Step::Unpack, Step::DigiTrigger, Step::LocalReco, Step::Tracking})->value_name("<steps>"),
       "space seperated list of reconstruction steps (unpack, digitrigger, localreco, ...)")
     ("systems,s", po::value(&fDetectors)->multitoken()->default_value({Subsystem::STS, Subsystem::TOF, Subsystem::BMON, Subsystem::MUCH, Subsystem::RICH, Subsystem::TRD, Subsystem::TRD2D})->value_name("<detectors>"),
diff --git a/algo/base/Options.h b/algo/base/Options.h
index 9eeaeec67df67a3f82be005b8dd0f153f6b6e996..c9959ffe28315032a024063e0f6b8405993ab1eb 100644
--- a/algo/base/Options.h
+++ b/algo/base/Options.h
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ namespace cbm::algo
       return std::find(fOutputTypes.begin(), fOutputTypes.end(), recoData) != fOutputTypes.end();
     }
 
+    bool CompressArchive() const { return fCompressArchive; }
+
     const std::vector<fles::Subsystem>& Detectors() const { return fDetectors; }
     bool HasDetector(fles::Subsystem detector) const
     {
@@ -73,6 +75,7 @@ namespace cbm::algo
     int fNumOMPThreads       = -1;
     std::vector<Step> fRecoSteps;
     std::vector<RecoData> fOutputTypes;
+    bool fCompressArchive = false;
     std::vector<fles::Subsystem> fDetectors;
     std::string fChildId = "00";
   };
diff --git a/algo/global/Reco.cxx b/algo/global/Reco.cxx
index 5ac8ae0479f62fffdfd5dcf1a4e7459ac303bd2c..4cde9b421791721816e4f39e032a3ae5e90825b3 100644
--- a/algo/global/Reco.cxx
+++ b/algo/global/Reco.cxx
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
    Authors: Felix Weiglhofer [committer] */
 #include "Reco.h"
 
+#include "BuildInfo.h"
 #include "CbmDigiEvent.h"
 #include "Exceptions.h"
 #include "compat/OpenMP.h"
@@ -36,6 +37,10 @@ void Reco::Validate(const Options& opts)
   if (hasOutputFile && !hasOutputType) {
     throw FatalError("Output file specified, but no output types given: -O <types> missing");
   }
+
+  if (!BuildInfo::WITH_ZSTD && opts.CompressArchive()) {
+    throw FatalError("Archive compression enabled but compiled without Zstd: Remove --archive-compression flag");
+  }
 }
 
 void Reco::Init(const Options& opts)
diff --git a/cmake/modules/FindBoostZstd.cmake b/cmake/modules/FindBoostZstd.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4cb61659ece79fa5a65e3bc786af7c734142c748
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/modules/FindBoostZstd.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2024 FIAS Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt / Main
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-only
+# Authors: Felix Weiglhofer [committer]
+
+set(CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES Boost::iostreams)
+check_cxx_source_compiles("
+#include <boost/iostreams/filter/zstd.hpp>
+#include <boost/iostreams/filtering_stream.hpp>
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+  std::unique_ptr<boost::iostreams::filtering_istream> in_;
+  in_ = std::make_unique<boost::iostreams::filtering_istream>();
+  in_->push(boost::iostreams::zstd_decompressor());
+
+  return 0;
+}" BOOST_IOS_HAS_ZSTD)
+unset(CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES)
+
+if(BOOST_IOS_HAS_ZSTD)
+  message(STATUS "Boost::iostream with ZSTD filter found.")
+else()
+  message(STATUS "Boost::iostream does not support ZSTD filter.")
+endif()
diff --git a/external/InstallFlesnet.cmake b/external/InstallFlesnet.cmake
index 95b4c7004050a989bf769d2caaaa042ede8c4e10..9effb58bdb86fb81fb42b491243010b7d680407e 100644
--- a/external/InstallFlesnet.cmake
+++ b/external/InstallFlesnet.cmake
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ download_project_if_needed(
   TEST_FILE       CMakeLists.txt
 )
 
+include(FindBoostZstd)
+
 If(ProjectUpdated)
   File(REMOVE_RECURSE ${FLESNET_DESTDIR})
   Message("flesnet source directory was changed so build directory was deleted")
@@ -112,6 +114,9 @@ target_compile_definitions(external::fles_monitoring
 
 add_library(external::fles_ipc STATIC IMPORTED GLOBAL)
 add_dependencies(external::fles_ipc flesnet external::fles_logging)
+if (BOOST_IOS_HAS_ZSTD)
+  target_compile_definitions(external::fles_ipc INTERFACE BOOST_IOS_HAS_ZSTD)
+endif()
 
 set(dir_to_link
     ${FLESNET_DESTDIR}/src/flesnet-build/src/zeromq-build/lib/${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_PREFIX}zmq${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_SUFFIX}
diff --git a/reco/app/cbmreco/main.cxx b/reco/app/cbmreco/main.cxx
index 296671a49171fcdc317250eacf60933e9bcc605e..351a893907aaaae5cbb0a16909dc67742689f630 100644
--- a/reco/app/cbmreco/main.cxx
+++ b/reco/app/cbmreco/main.cxx
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
 
   L_(info) << "CBMRECO buildType=" << BuildInfo::BUILD_TYPE << " gpuDebug=" << BuildInfo::GPU_DEBUG
            << " parallelSTL=" << BuildInfo::WITH_PARALLEL_ALGORITHM << " OMP=" << BuildInfo::WITH_OMP
-           << " commit=" << BuildInfo::GIT_HASH;
+           << " ZSTD=" << BuildInfo::WITH_ZSTD << " commit=" << BuildInfo::GIT_HASH;
   std::stringstream ss;
   for (int i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
     ss << argv[i] << " ";
@@ -159,7 +159,11 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
   std::optional<RecoResultsOutputArchive> archive;
   if (!opts.OutputFile().empty()) {
     L_(info) << "Writing results to file: " << opts.OutputFile();
-    archive.emplace(opts.OutputFile().string());
+    fles::ArchiveCompression compression = fles::ArchiveCompression::None;
+    if (opts.CompressArchive()) {
+      compression = fles::ArchiveCompression::Zstd;
+    }
+    archive.emplace(opts.OutputFile().string(), compression);
   }
 
   int tsIdx  = 0;