diff --git a/azalea-protocol/src/connect.rs b/azalea-protocol/src/connect.rs
index d3617b3f..3d910d3a 100644
--- a/azalea-protocol/src/connect.rs
+++ b/azalea-protocol/src/connect.rs
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ impl HandshakeConnection {
 
     /// Write a packet to the server
     pub async fn write(&mut self, packet: HandshakePacket) {
-        write_packet(packet, &mut self.stream).await;
+        write_packet(packet, &mut self.stream, None).await;
     }
 }
 
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ impl GameConnection {
 
     /// Write a packet to the server
     pub async fn write(&mut self, packet: GamePacket) {
-        write_packet(packet, &mut self.stream).await;
+        write_packet(packet, &mut self.stream, self.compression_threshold).await;
     }
 }
 
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ impl StatusConnection {
 
     /// Write a packet to the server
     pub async fn write(&mut self, packet: StatusPacket) {
-        write_packet(packet, &mut self.stream).await;
+        write_packet(packet, &mut self.stream, None).await;
     }
 }
 
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ impl LoginConnection {
 
     /// Write a packet to the server
     pub async fn write(&mut self, packet: LoginPacket) {
-        write_packet(packet, &mut self.stream).await;
+        write_packet(packet, &mut self.stream, self.compression_threshold).await;
     }
 
     pub fn set_compression_threshold(&mut self, threshold: i32) {
diff --git a/azalea-protocol/src/read.rs b/azalea-protocol/src/read.rs
index 96946f29..7b94135a 100644
--- a/azalea-protocol/src/read.rs
+++ b/azalea-protocol/src/read.rs
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ where
 // this is always true in multiplayer, false in singleplayer
 static VALIDATE_DECOMPRESSED: bool = true;
 
-static MAXIMUM_UNCOMPRESSED_LENGTH: u32 = 8388608;
+pub static MAXIMUM_UNCOMPRESSED_LENGTH: u32 = 8388608;
 
 async fn compression_decoder<R>(
     stream: &mut R,
@@ -102,7 +102,6 @@ where
 {
     let mut buf = frame_splitter(stream).await?;
     if let Some(compression_threshold) = compression_threshold {
-        println!("compression_decoder");
         buf = compression_decoder(&mut buf.as_slice(), compression_threshold).await?;
     }
     let packet = packet_decoder(&mut buf.as_slice(), flow).await?;
diff --git a/azalea-protocol/src/write.rs b/azalea-protocol/src/write.rs
index bf9fd0aa..4ae9f1c1 100644
--- a/azalea-protocol/src/write.rs
+++ b/azalea-protocol/src/write.rs
@@ -1,31 +1,65 @@
-use tokio::{io::AsyncWriteExt, net::TcpStream};
+use std::io::Read;
 
-use crate::{mc_buf::Writable, packets::ProtocolPacket};
+use crate::{mc_buf::Writable, packets::ProtocolPacket, read::MAXIMUM_UNCOMPRESSED_LENGTH};
+use async_compression::tokio::bufread::ZlibEncoder;
+use tokio::{
+    io::{AsyncRead, AsyncReadExt, AsyncWrite, AsyncWriteExt},
+    net::TcpStream,
+};
 
-pub async fn write_packet(packet: impl ProtocolPacket, stream: &mut TcpStream) {
-    // TODO: implement compression
-
-    // packet structure:
-    // length (varint) + id (varint) + data
-
-    // write the packet id
-    let mut id_and_data_buf = vec![];
-    id_and_data_buf
-        .write_varint(packet.id() as i32)
-        .expect("Writing packet id failed");
-    packet.write(&mut id_and_data_buf);
-
-    // write the packet data
-
-    // make a new buffer that has the length at the beginning
-    // and id+data at the end
-    let mut complete_buf: Vec<u8> = Vec::new();
-    complete_buf
-        .write_varint(id_and_data_buf.len() as i32)
-        .expect("Writing packet length failed");
-    complete_buf.append(&mut id_and_data_buf);
-
-    // finally, write and flush to the stream
-    stream.write_all(&complete_buf).await.unwrap();
-    stream.flush().await.unwrap();
+fn frame_prepender(data: &mut Vec<u8>) -> Result<Vec<u8>, String> {
+    let mut buf = Vec::new();
+    buf.write_varint(data.len() as i32)
+        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    buf.append(data);
+    Ok(buf)
+}
+
+fn packet_encoder<P: ProtocolPacket + std::fmt::Debug>(packet: &P) -> Result<Vec<u8>, String> {
+    let mut buf = Vec::new();
+    buf.write_varint(packet.id() as i32)
+        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    packet.write(&mut buf);
+    if buf.len() > MAXIMUM_UNCOMPRESSED_LENGTH as usize {
+        return Err(format!(
+            "Packet too big (is {} bytes, should be less than {}): {:?}",
+            buf.len(),
+            MAXIMUM_UNCOMPRESSED_LENGTH,
+            packet
+        ));
+    }
+    Ok(buf)
+}
+
+async fn compression_encoder(data: &[u8], compression_threshold: u32) -> Result<Vec<u8>, String> {
+    let n = data.len();
+    // if it's less than the compression threshold, don't compress
+    if n < compression_threshold as usize {
+        let mut buf = Vec::new();
+        buf.write_varint(0).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+        buf.write_all(data).await.map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+        Ok(buf)
+    } else {
+        // otherwise, compress
+        let mut deflater = ZlibEncoder::new(data);
+        // write deflated data to buf
+        let mut buf = Vec::new();
+        deflater
+            .read_to_end(&mut buf)
+            .await
+            .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+        Ok(buf)
+    }
+}
+
+pub async fn write_packet<P>(packet: P, stream: &mut TcpStream, compression_threshold: Option<u32>)
+where
+    P: ProtocolPacket + std::fmt::Debug,
+{
+    let mut buf = packet_encoder(&packet).unwrap();
+    if let Some(threshold) = compression_threshold {
+        buf = compression_encoder(&buf, threshold).await.unwrap();
+    }
+    buf = frame_prepender(&mut buf).unwrap();
+    stream.write_all(&buf).await.unwrap();
 }