diff --git a/src/main/java/nl/sidnlabs/entrada/engine/AbstractQueryEngine.java b/src/main/java/nl/sidnlabs/entrada/engine/AbstractQueryEngine.java
index 48d93940..5239df44 100644
--- a/src/main/java/nl/sidnlabs/entrada/engine/AbstractQueryEngine.java
+++ b/src/main/java/nl/sidnlabs/entrada/engine/AbstractQueryEngine.java
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ public abstract class AbstractQueryEngine implements QueryEngine {
   @Value("${entrada.database.table.icmp}")
   protected String tableIcmp;
 
+  @Value("${entrada.parquet.compression}")
+  protected String parquetCompression;
+
   protected JdbcTemplate jdbcTemplate;
   protected FileManager fileManager;
   private String scriptPrefix;
@@ -143,6 +146,7 @@ private Map<String, Object> createValueMap(TablePartition p) {
     values.put("MONTH", p.getMonth());
     values.put("DAY", p.getDay());
     values.put("SERVER", p.getServer());
+    values.put("PARQUET_COMPRESSION", parquetCompression);
     return values;
   }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/nl/sidnlabs/entrada/initialize/AbstractInitializer.java b/src/main/java/nl/sidnlabs/entrada/initialize/AbstractInitializer.java
index 8e363a92..0838a6e6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/nl/sidnlabs/entrada/initialize/AbstractInitializer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/nl/sidnlabs/entrada/initialize/AbstractInitializer.java
@@ -52,6 +52,9 @@ public abstract class AbstractInitializer implements Initializer {
   @Value("${aws.encryption}")
   protected boolean encrypt;
 
+  @Value("${entrada.parquet.compression}")
+  protected String parquetCompression;
+
 
   private QueryEngine queryEngine;
   private String scriptPrefix;
@@ -147,6 +150,7 @@ private Map<String, Object> dnsParameters() {
     parameters.put("TABLE_NAME", tableDns);
     parameters.put("TABLE_LOC", FileUtil.appendPath(output, tableDns));
     parameters.put("ENCRYPTED", encrypt);
+    parameters.put("PARQUET_COMPRESSION", parquetCompression);
     return parameters;
   }
 
@@ -157,6 +161,7 @@ private Map<String, Object> icmpParameters() {
     parameters.put("TABLE_NAME", tableIcmp);
     parameters.put("TABLE_LOC", FileUtil.appendPath(output, tableIcmp));
     parameters.put("ENCRYPTED", encrypt);
+    parameters.put("PARQUET_COMPRESSION", parquetCompression);
     return parameters;
   }
 
diff --git a/src/main/resources/application-dev.properties b/src/main/resources/application-dev.properties
index 6be69c3b..1f1dfe09 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/application-dev.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/application-dev.properties
@@ -172,6 +172,8 @@ entrada.parquet.filesize.max=128
 entrada.parquet.rowgroup.size=128
 # max rows to use for each column chunk page in parquet file
 entrada.parquet.page-row.limit=20000
+# parquet compression format, use GZIP to save on S3 storage/athena scan costs for example
+entrada.parquet.compression=SNAPPY
 # seconds cached dns questions (without responses) timeout
 # required to match dns requests spanning multiple pcap files
 entrada.cache.timeout=2
diff --git a/src/main/resources/application.properties b/src/main/resources/application.properties
index f63848a2..ff834174 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/application.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/application.properties
@@ -169,6 +169,8 @@ entrada.parquet.filesize.max=128
 entrada.parquet.rowgroup.size=128
 # max rows to use for each column chunk page in parquet file
 entrada.parquet.page-row.limit=20000
+# parquet compression format, use GZIP to save on S3 storage/athena scan costs for example
+entrada.parquet.compression=SNAPPY
 # seconds cached dns questions (without responses) timeout
 # required to match dns requests spanning multiple pcap files
 entrada.cache.timeout=2
diff --git a/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-compaction-dns.sql b/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-compaction-dns.sql
index 8aa4635c..b751e80e 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-compaction-dns.sql
+++ b/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-compaction-dns.sql
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ CREATE TABLE ${DATABASE_NAME}.tmp_compaction
 WITH (
       external_location = '${TABLE_LOC}',
       format = 'Parquet',
-      parquet_compression = 'SNAPPY')
+      parquet_compression = '${PARQUET_COMPRESSION}')
 AS SELECT 
 	  id,
 	  time,
diff --git a/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-compaction-icmp.sql b/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-compaction-icmp.sql
index bbe93e8a..27c5d95e 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-compaction-icmp.sql
+++ b/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-compaction-icmp.sql
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ CREATE TABLE ${DATABASE_NAME}.tmp_compaction
 WITH (
       external_location = '${TABLE_LOC}',
       format = 'Parquet',
-      parquet_compression = 'SNAPPY')
+      parquet_compression = '${PARQUET_COMPRESSION}')
 AS SELECT 
 	icmp_type,
     icmp_code,
diff --git a/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-purge-dns.sql b/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-purge-dns.sql
index 2c9c2161..334e1849 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-purge-dns.sql
+++ b/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-purge-dns.sql
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ CREATE TABLE ${DATABASE_NAME}.tmp_compaction
 WITH (
       external_location = '${TABLE_LOC}',
       format = 'Parquet',
-      parquet_compression = 'SNAPPY')
+      parquet_compression = '${PARQUET_COMPRESSION}')
 AS SELECT 
 	  id,
 	  time,
diff --git a/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-purge-icmp.sql b/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-purge-icmp.sql
index d9b7eef6..44f23442 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-purge-icmp.sql
+++ b/src/main/resources/sql/athena/partition-purge-icmp.sql
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ CREATE TABLE ${DATABASE_NAME}.tmp_compaction
 WITH (
       external_location = '${TABLE_LOC}',
       format = 'Parquet',
-      parquet_compression = 'SNAPPY')
+      parquet_compression = '${PARQUET_COMPRESSION}')
 AS SELECT 
 	icmp_type,
     icmp_code,