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 both BladeBit and Gigahorse compressed plots can be created with either a CPU or 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.

Compression Levels (Bladebit Alpha*)
Compression Level Plot Size (GiB) Relative Size Reward Increase
C0 (reference) 101.3
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%
C10 ? ? ?
C11 ? ? ?
CPU Farmable GPU Farmable
* BladeBit compressed plotting and harvesting is currently in Alpha. Final numbers could be subject to change. C8 is currently unavailable.

Also note C-levels are not equivalent. A BladeBit C3 is more directly comparable to a Gigahorse C1 both in terms of size and expected decompression workload.
Compression Levels (Gigahorse*)
Compression Level Plot Size (GiB) Relative Size Reward Increase
C0 (reference) 101.3
-
-
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%
CPU Farmable GPU Farmable GPU Only (higher operating costs)
* CPU farming has 1.562% dev fee, GPU farming has 3.125% dev fee.
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.