diff --git a/processing/src/main/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/io/PfbWriter.java b/processing/src/main/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/io/PfbWriter.java
index 1e97c766..9f09bbd8 100644
--- a/processing/src/main/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/io/PfbWriter.java
+++ b/processing/src/main/java/edu/harvard/hms/dbmi/avillach/hpds/processing/io/PfbWriter.java
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ public void writeHeader(String[] data) {
         dataFileWriter = new DataFileWriter<GenericRecord>(datumWriter);
         try {
             log.info("Creating temp avro file at " + file.getAbsoluteFile());
-            dataFileWriter.setCodec(CodecFactory.nullCodec());
+            dataFileWriter.setCodec(CodecFactory.deflateCodec(CodecFactory.DEFAULT_DEFLATE_LEVEL));
             dataFileWriter.create(entitySchema, file);
         } catch (IOException e) {
             throw new UncheckedIOException(e);