diff --git a/tensorflow/core/data/service/BUILD b/tensorflow/core/data/service/BUILD
index 6003362406f..68c0f2d47d7 100644
--- a/tensorflow/core/data/service/BUILD
+++ b/tensorflow/core/data/service/BUILD
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ load(
     "tf_additional_all_protos",
     "tf_proto_library",
 )
+load(
+    "//tensorflow:tensorflow.bzl",
+    "tf_cc_test",
+)
 
 package(
     default_visibility = [
@@ -41,6 +45,39 @@ tf_proto_library(
     ],
 )
 
+cc_library(
+    name = "compression_utils",
+    srcs = ["compression_utils.cc"],
+    hdrs = [
+        "compression_utils.h",
+    ],
+    deps = [
+        ":common_proto_cc",
+        "//tensorflow/core:core_cpu",
+        "//tensorflow/core:core_cpu_internal",
+        "//tensorflow/core:framework_internal",
+        "//tensorflow/core:lib",
+        "//tensorflow/core:lib_internal",
+        "//tensorflow/core:protos_all_cc",
+        "//tensorflow/core/profiler/lib:traceme",
+        "@com_google_absl//absl/memory",
+    ],
+)
+
+tf_cc_test(
+    name = "compression_utils_test",
+    srcs = ["compression_utils_test.cc"],
+    deps = [
+        ":compression_utils",
+        "//tensorflow/core:lib",
+        "//tensorflow/core:lib_internal",
+        "//tensorflow/core:test",
+        "//tensorflow/core:test_main",
+        "//tensorflow/core:testlib",
+        "//tensorflow/core/kernels/data:dataset_test_base",
+    ],
+)
+
 cc_grpc_library(
     name = "master_cc_grpc_proto",
     srcs = [":master_proto"],
diff --git a/tensorflow/core/data/service/compression_utils.cc b/tensorflow/core/data/service/compression_utils.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c4a47e1b00e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tensorflow/core/data/service/compression_utils.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+/* Copyright 2020 The TensorFlow Authors. All Rights Reserved.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+==============================================================================*/
+#include "tensorflow/core/data/service/compression_utils.h"
+
+#include "tensorflow/core/common_runtime/dma_helper.h"
+#include "tensorflow/core/framework/tensor.pb.h"
+#include "tensorflow/core/platform/snappy.h"
+#include "tensorflow/core/profiler/lib/traceme.h"
+
+namespace tensorflow {
+namespace data {
+namespace service_util {
+
+Status Compress(const std::vector<Tensor>& element, CompressedElement* out) {
+  tensorflow::profiler::TraceMe activity(
+      "Compress", tensorflow::profiler::TraceMeLevel::kInfo);
+
+  // Step 1: Determine the total uncompressed size. This requires serializing
+  // non-memcopyable tensors, which we save to use again later.
+  std::vector<TensorProto> non_memcpy_components;
+  int64 total_size = 0;
+  for (auto& component : element) {
+    if (DataTypeCanUseMemcpy(component.dtype())) {
+      // Some datatypes can be memcopied, allowing us to save two copies
+      // (AsProtoTensorContent and SerializeToArray).
+      total_size += DMAHelper::buffer(&component)->size();
+    } else {
+      non_memcpy_components.emplace_back();
+      component.AsProtoTensorContent(&non_memcpy_components.back());
+      total_size += non_memcpy_components.back().ByteSizeLong();
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Step 2: Write the tensor data to a buffer, and compress that buffer.
+  // We use tstring for access to resize_uninitialized.
+  tstring uncompressed;
+  uncompressed.resize_uninitialized(total_size);
+  // Position in `uncompressed` to write the next component.
+  char* position = uncompressed.mdata();
+  int non_memcpy_component_index = 0;
+  for (auto& component : element) {
+    ComponentMetadata* metadata = out->mutable_component_metadata()->Add();
+    metadata->set_dtype(component.dtype());
+    component.shape().AsProto(metadata->mutable_tensor_shape());
+    if (DataTypeCanUseMemcpy(component.dtype())) {
+      const TensorBuffer* buffer = DMAHelper::buffer(&component);
+      memcpy(position, buffer->data(), buffer->size());
+      metadata->set_tensor_size_bytes(buffer->size());
+    } else {
+      TensorProto& proto = non_memcpy_components[non_memcpy_component_index++];
+      proto.SerializeToArray(position, proto.ByteSizeLong());
+      metadata->set_tensor_size_bytes(proto.ByteSizeLong());
+    }
+    position += metadata->tensor_size_bytes();
+  }
+  DCHECK_EQ(position, uncompressed.mdata() + total_size);
+
+  if (!port::Snappy_Compress(uncompressed.mdata(), total_size,
+                             out->mutable_data())) {
+    return errors::Internal("Failed to compress using snappy.");
+  }
+  return Status::OK();
+}
+
+Status Uncompress(const CompressedElement& compressed,
+                  std::vector<Tensor>* out) {
+  tensorflow::profiler::TraceMe activity(
+      "Uncompress", tensorflow::profiler::TraceMeLevel::kInfo);
+  int num_components = compressed.component_metadata_size();
+  out->clear();
+  out->reserve(num_components);
+
+  // Step 1: Prepare the memory that we will uncompress into.
+  std::vector<struct iovec> iov(num_components);
+  // We use tstring for access to resize_uninitialized.
+  std::vector<tstring> tensor_proto_strs;
+  // num_components is a conservative estimate. It is important to reserve
+  // vector space so that the vector doesn't resize itself, which could
+  // invalidate pointers to its strings' data.
+  tensor_proto_strs.reserve(num_components);
+  int64 total_size = 0;
+  for (int i = 0; i < num_components; ++i) {
+    const ComponentMetadata& metadata = compressed.component_metadata(i);
+    if (DataTypeCanUseMemcpy(metadata.dtype())) {
+      out->emplace_back(metadata.dtype(), metadata.tensor_shape());
+      TensorBuffer* buffer = DMAHelper::buffer(&out->back());
+      iov[i].iov_base = buffer->data();
+      iov[i].iov_len = buffer->size();
+    } else {
+      // Allocate an empty Tensor. We will fill it out later after
+      // uncompressing into the tensor_proto_str.
+      out->emplace_back();
+      tensor_proto_strs.emplace_back();
+      tstring& tensor_proto_str = tensor_proto_strs.back();
+      tensor_proto_str.resize_uninitialized(metadata.tensor_size_bytes());
+      iov[i].iov_base = tensor_proto_str.mdata();
+      iov[i].iov_len = tensor_proto_str.size();
+    }
+    total_size += iov[i].iov_len;
+  }
+
+  // Step 2: Uncompress into the iovec.
+  const std::string& compressed_data = compressed.data();
+  size_t uncompressed_size;
+  if (!port::Snappy_GetUncompressedLength(
+          compressed_data.data(), compressed_data.size(), &uncompressed_size)) {
+    return errors::Internal("Could not get snappy uncompressed length");
+  }
+  if (uncompressed_size != total_size) {
+    return errors::Internal(
+        "Uncompressed size mismatch. Snappy expects ", uncompressed_size,
+        " whereas the tensor metadata suggests ", total_size);
+  }
+  if (!port::Snappy_UncompressToIOVec(compressed_data.data(),
+                                      compressed_data.size(), iov.data(),
+                                      num_components)) {
+    return errors::Internal("Failed to perform snappy decompression.");
+  }
+
+  // Step 3: Deserialize tensor proto strings to tensors.
+  int tensor_proto_strs_index = 0;
+  for (int i = 0; i < num_components; ++i) {
+    if (DataTypeCanUseMemcpy(compressed.component_metadata(i).dtype())) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    TensorProto tp;
+    if (!tp.ParseFromString(tensor_proto_strs[tensor_proto_strs_index++])) {
+      return errors::Internal("Could not parse TensorProto");
+    }
+    if (!out->at(i).FromProto(tp)) {
+      return errors::Internal("Could not parse Tensor");
+    }
+  }
+  return Status::OK();
+}
+
+}  // namespace service_util
+}  // namespace data
+}  // namespace tensorflow
diff --git a/tensorflow/core/data/service/compression_utils.h b/tensorflow/core/data/service/compression_utils.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..96698aaaf09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tensorflow/core/data/service/compression_utils.h
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/* Copyright 2020 The TensorFlow Authors. All Rights Reserved.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+==============================================================================*/
+#ifndef TENSORFLOW_CORE_DATA_SERVICE_COMPRESSION_UTILS_H_
+#define TENSORFLOW_CORE_DATA_SERVICE_COMPRESSION_UTILS_H_
+
+#include "tensorflow/core/common_runtime/dma_helper.h"
+#include "tensorflow/core/data/service/common.pb.h"
+#include "tensorflow/core/platform/status.h"
+
+namespace tensorflow {
+namespace data {
+namespace service_util {
+
+// Compresses the components of `element` into the `CompressedElement` proto.
+//
+// In addition to writing the actual compressed bytes, `Compress` fills
+// out the per-component metadata for the `CompressedElement`.
+Status Compress(const std::vector<Tensor>& element, CompressedElement* out);
+
+// Uncompresses a `CompressedElement` into a vector of tensor components.
+Status Uncompress(const CompressedElement& compressed,
+                  std::vector<Tensor>* out);
+
+}  // namespace service_util
+}  // namespace data
+}  // namespace tensorflow
+
+#endif  // TENSORFLOW_CORE_DATA_SERVICE_COMPRESSION_UTILS_H_
diff --git a/tensorflow/core/data/service/compression_utils_test.cc b/tensorflow/core/data/service/compression_utils_test.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b5da13efeed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tensorflow/core/data/service/compression_utils_test.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/* Copyright 2020 The TensorFlow Authors. All Rights Reserved.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+==============================================================================*/
+#include "tensorflow/core/data/service/compression_utils.h"
+
+#include "tensorflow/core/framework/tensor_testutil.h"
+#include "tensorflow/core/kernels/data/dataset_test_base.h"
+#include "tensorflow/core/platform/test.h"
+
+namespace tensorflow {
+namespace data {
+namespace service_util {
+
+class ParameterizedCompressionUtilsTest
+    : public DatasetOpsTestBase,
+      public ::testing::WithParamInterface<std::vector<Tensor>> {};
+
+TEST_P(ParameterizedCompressionUtilsTest, RoundTrip) {
+  std::vector<Tensor> element = GetParam();
+  CompressedElement compressed;
+  TF_ASSERT_OK(Compress(element, &compressed));
+  std::vector<Tensor> round_trip_element;
+  TF_ASSERT_OK(Uncompress(compressed, &round_trip_element));
+  TF_EXPECT_OK(
+      ExpectEqual(element, round_trip_element, /*compare_order=*/true));
+}
+
+std::vector<std::vector<Tensor>> TestCases() {
+  return {
+      CreateTensors<int64>(TensorShape{1}, {{1}}),             // int64
+      CreateTensors<int64>(TensorShape{1}, {{1}, {2}}),        // multiple int64
+      CreateTensors<tstring>(TensorShape{1}, {{"a"}, {"b"}}),  // tstring
+      {CreateTensor<tstring>(TensorShape{1}, {"a"}),
+       CreateTensor<int64>(TensorShape{1}, {1})},  // mixed tstring/int64
+      {},                                          // empty
+  };
+}
+
+INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(Instantiation, ParameterizedCompressionUtilsTest,
+                         ::testing::ValuesIn(TestCases()));
+
+}  // namespace service_util
+}  // namespace data
+}  // namespace tensorflow