Chia Compressed Plots

Compressed plots have emerged as an innovative solution for Chia farmers looking to optimize their storage space and maximize farming efficiency. This guide will provide an overview of compressed plots, the advantages and disadvantages, and tips to help you get started with compressed plotting for Chia farming.

Note that Gigahorse compressed plots can be created with either a CPU or GPU, and Bladebit compressed plots can be created with a GPU. You can plot with a CPU and farm with a GPU or plot with a GPU and farm with a CPU, or any other combination that makes sense for your hardware.

Gigahorse v2.5 plots are generated from Gigahorse 2.0 software. Although they have higher C-levels names that Gigahorse v2.4 plots, they cannot be directly compared since they use a different plot format that allows for more compression. Hence comparisons between C levels in Gigahorse should be within C1-C9 and C11-C20 groups separately. Likewise with Gigahorse v3.0.

Bladebit
C Level Size (GiB) Relative Size Reward Increase
C1 87.5 86.3% 15.9%
C2 86.0 84.8% 17.9%
C3 84.5 83.3% 20.0%
C4 82.9 81.8% 22.3%
C5 81.3 80.2% 24.7%
C6 79.6 78.5% 27.4%
C7 78.0 76.9% 29.8%
C8 - - -
C9 75.2 74.2% 34.8%
CPU Farmable GPU Farmable
* C8 is currently unavailable.

Also note C-levels are not equivalent in size nor decompression workload. A BladeBit C3 is more directly comparable to a Gigahorse C1/C11 in terms of size.
Gigahorse 1.0
C Level Size (GiB) Relative Size Reward Increase
C1 84.2 83.0% 20.4%
C2 82.6 81.5% 22.8%
C3 81.0 79.9% 25.2%
C4 79.4 78.3% 27.7%
C5 77.8 76.7% 30.3%
C6 76.2 75.1% 33.1%
C7 74.6 73.6% 35.9%
C8 71.3 70.3% 42.2%
C9 68.1 67.2% 48.9%
C10 - - -
CPU Farmable GPU Farmable GPU Only (higher operating costs)
* CPU farming has 1.562% dev fee, GPU farming has 3.125% dev fee.
NoSSD 1.0
C Level Size (GiB) Relative Size Reward Increase
C1 84.5 83.3% 20.0%
C2 82.9 81.8% 22.3%
C3 81.3 80.2% 24.7%
C4 79.7 78.6% 27.2%
C5 78.1 77.0% 29.8%
CPU Farmable
*All NoSSD plots are pool locked with a 3.5% fee.
Gigahorse 2.0/3.0
C Level Size (GiB) Relative Size Reward Increase
C11 85.7 84.5% 18.3%
C12 82.5 81.4% 22.9%
C13 78.9 77.8% 28.5%
C14 74.7 73.7% 35.7%
C15 71.6 70.6% 41.6%
C16 64.8 63.9% 56.5%
C17 63.0 62.1% 61.0%
C18 59.7 58.9% 69.8%
C19 56.4 55.6% 79.8%
C20 53.1 52.4% 91.0%
C29 48.0 47.3% 111.3%
C30 43.3 42.7% 134.2%
C31 38.6 38.1% 162.7%
C32 33.9 33.4% 199.1%
C33 29.1 28.7% 248.5%
CPU Farmable GPU Farmable GPU Only (higher operating costs)
* CPU farming has 1.562% dev fee, GPU farming has 3.125% dev fee.
NoSSD 2.0/3.0
C Level Size (GiB) Relative Size Reward Increase
C10 70.8 69.8% 43.2%
C11 64.9 64.0% 56.2%
C12 60.8 60.0% 66.8%
C13 57.3 56.5% 77.0%
C14 53.8 53.1% 88.5%
C15 50.3 49.6% 101.6%
C30 47.51 46.9% 113.4%
C31 44.93 44.3% 125.7%
C32 42.3 41.7% 139.7%
C33 39.65 39.1% 155.7%
C34 36.96 36.4% 174.4%
C35 34.36 33.9% 195.1%
C36 31.71 31.3% 219.8%
C37* 28.96 28.6% 250.1%
C38* 26.16 25.8% 287.6%
GPU Only (higher operating costs)
* GPUs with 24GB VRAM required (3090/4090)

All NoSSD plots are pool locked with a 3.5% fee.
DrPlotter
C Level Size (GiB) Relative Size Reward Increase
Eco3x* 31.9 31.5% 217%
Pro4x* 22.8 22.5% 342%
GPU Only (higher operating costs)
* GPUs with 24GB VRAM required (3090/4090)
Did you know?
Not actually compression!

Although the terms "compression" and "decompression" are used, it's not actually compression in the traditional sense! Compressed plots are partially created plots where the remainder of the plot is generated on-demand during the "decompression" phase. A more accurate term to describe them would be truncated plots or partial plots. This also means higher compression levels are actually faster to plot!

Did you know?
Not quite beyond Hellman

The workload required to "decompress" a plot grows exponentially with compression level and will quickly make it economically inefficient to go beyond the higher compression levels. This means compressed farming won't just devolve into Proof-of-Work. Taken to the extreme, an entire plot created on-demand is known as the well-documented replotting or grinding attack.

Compressed Plots Questions

Compressed plots offer reduced file size, allowing for more efficient storage utilization, potentially enabling a larger number of plots on the same storage device.

Higher compression levels (C6 to C9) result in smaller plot sizes but require more resources for decompression, while lower levels (C1-C5) have larger plot sizes but lower decompression workloads.

Yes, you can use both compressed and traditional plots in your Chia farm, but ensure your system can handle the additional decompression workload for compressed plots.

Higher decompression workloads can increase CPU or GPU usage, potentially affecting your system's overall performance; ensure you have adequate resources to handle the workload without bottlenecks.

Use Chia plotting software that supports compressed plot creation, selecting the desired compression level during the plotting process. Such software includes Bladebit and Gigahorse.

The optimal compression level depends on your specific hardware and farming setup; consider factors like available storage space, system resources, and desired farming efficiency when choosing a compression level.

Currently, converting traditional plots to compressed plots is not supported; you will need to create new compressed plots from scratch using compatible plotting software. The thinking is the conversion process would be just as, if not more, resource intensive than creating a compressed plot directly.

Ensure you have a compatible GPU with the necessary drivers installed and configure your Chia farming software to use GPU-based decompression for the corresponding compressed plots.

As long as your system can handle the decompression workload without impacting farming performance, using compressed plots should not negatively affect your chances of earning rewards.

The main limitations of compressed plots are the increased decompression workload and potential compatibility issues with older hardware or software; ensure your farming setup can accommodate these factors before using compressed plots.

Consult the documentation for your plotting and farming software, verify your hardware and software configurations meet the requirements for compressed plots, and seek guidance from Chia community forums for specific issues.

Yes, you can use compressed plots in a Chia pool; ensure that your system can handle the additional decompression workload without affecting your farming performance.

Choose the appropriate compression level based on your hardware capabilities, ensure adequate system resources for decompression, and monitor your farming performance to identify potential bottlenecks or issues.