To measure compression’s effect fairly, time the same game event in two release-representative builds that differ only in the compression setting. Run both on the same device and storage under matching cache conditions, repeat the test, and report load-time variation alongside package size. A stopwatch tells you whether the event changed; a trace helps show whether compression caused the difference.
Choose one load event and define its endpoints
First decide what “load time” means for your test. Pick one event and use it for every run; startup, level loading, and asset loading are different measurements.
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- Boot to ready: Start at process launch and stop at a repeatable condition, such as the point the menu is interactive. State exactly how you identify “ready.”
- Level request to usable level: Start when the game requests a particular level and stop when it is visible and usable. Unreal’s
stat levelsworkflow reports the time from a load request to load finish; if your test uses a different endpoint, describe it. - Asset request to usable content: Instrument the request and the point at which the asset is actually ready for use. A file being read is not necessarily the same as content being available to the player.
Do not combine boot time with in-level streaming time or compare one endpoint in the compressed build with another in the baseline. Write down the start and stop markers before testing.
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Use two builds from the same project revision and content. Change only the compression setting being tested; hold the engine version, build configuration, target platform, resolution and game settings, loading code, and storage location constant. Use release-representative builds rather than comparing a shipping-style build with an editor or debug run.
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- Record the baseline: Note the compression format or setting, build configuration, engine version, device and operating system, storage location, and exact content included.
- Change one variable: Create the second build from the same revision and content, changing only the compression setting under study.
- Control the cache: Decide whether the test is cold or warm/cached. If cache state matters to the shipping scenario, test both conditions separately and describe how you created each state. Never compare a cold run with a warm run.
- Repeat the same scenario: Run the same event and sequence on the same target device for both builds. Keep raw results; report the number of runs, median, and a measure of spread such as minimum and maximum or percentiles. There is no vendor-prescribed sample count in the cited guidance, so choose enough repeats to see whether a result is consistent and state the count.
- Capture the package size: Record the exact compressed package or bundle size for each build, using the same measurement basis. This exposes the size-versus-load-time tradeoff.
Also record resolution and relevant game settings, storage type or location, cache condition, event definition, and any other condition that might affect loading. A concise run sheet makes the comparison repeatable and helps explain unexpected results.
Measure Unreal Engine loading
For boot time
Epic’s Unreal Engine 5.8 optimization guidance says ZLib compression can reduce application package size while requiring more CPU time during loading, which can slow boot. It also names initial-asset loading and decompression, application size, plugin activation, string parsing, and memory allocation or fragmentation as factors that can affect startup. For boot analysis, Epic recommends Unreal Insights, including profiling performance remotely from a target device. See Epic’s Unreal Engine 5.8 optimization guidance.
For async loading, compression, or level streaming
Use focused counters to investigate the relevant part of the load:
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stat AsyncLoadandstat AsyncLoadGameThreadshow async-load performance.stat Compressionreports compression statistics.stat levelsshows levels loading or unloading and the time from load request to load finish.
To capture statistics, run stat startfile around the event and then stat stopfile. The resulting .uestats file can be reviewed in Session Frontend’s Profiler. Epic documents these workflows in its Unreal Engine stat commands reference.
stat unit is aimed at frame-time bottlenecks, not a total boot stopwatch. Epic recommends a non-debug build for that analysis. Keep frame-time profiling distinct from the elapsed time between your chosen load markers.
Check asset size and memory context
For asset-size context, Epic describes Size Map and Statistics in the editor, and Memreport -full on a target device after a Development build. The device memory report reflects data that made it through cooking and packaging with device compression settings. These tools provide useful context, but do not substitute for recording the package size and timing the same event in both builds.
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Measure Unity AssetBundle loading
Unity AssetBundles offer LZMA stream compression, LZ4 chunk compression, and an uncompressed format. They are not interchangeable load paths: LZMA bundles are smaller, but the stream must be decompressed before assets can be read; LZ4 processes chunks so needed chunks can be decompressed on demand. Unity describes LZ4 loading times as comparable to uncompressed bundles while reducing disk size, but the result depends on the device and load path.
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Use the loading API and cache workflow that match the way the game will ship. Unity’s documentation describes asynchronous file loading for chunk-compressed StreamingAssets and download/cache flows for LZMA bundles. Do not treat a download, cache, or file-read duration as equivalent to the time until the content is usable unless that is the event your test explicitly measures. See Unity’s AssetBundle compression and caching documentation.
Separate bundle compression from texture compression
GPU texture format is a separate variable from archive or bundle compression. Unity notes that texture format can affect loading, frame time, memory, visual quality, build size, and compression time. If a target does not support a texture format, Unity may decompress it to an uncompressed format during loading and retain an additional memory copy; a supported format can be used by the GPU without that conversion. Record the target and texture format, and avoid attributing time spent converting texture data to the AssetBundle compression setting. See Unity’s texture compression format guidance.
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Explain bundle-size changes
Unity’s Build Report Inspector reads the generated report at Library/LastBuild.buildreport; editor logs also summarize assets by type and list individual size contributions. Use these to understand what changed in the build, then report the actual bundle or package size next to your timing results. See Unity’s Build Report documentation.
Interpret the result without overclaiming
Compression can make a package smaller without making a particular load event faster. If the compressed build takes longer, that may be a genuine tradeoff: Unreal documentation explicitly describes a smaller package requiring more CPU during loading. If the total time barely moves, the test may be dominated by another part of the path, such as storage I/O, texture conversion, object creation, shader work, or unrelated startup tasks.
Use traces or engine counters to locate the time spent reading, decompressing, converting, creating assets, or doing other work. A total stopwatch result establishes the elapsed time for the chosen event, but by itself does not establish that compression caused the difference. Interpret the trace in the context of the same device, build, content, and cache conditions used for the timing comparison.
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When comparing multiple formats or conditions, keep these axes separate in your report:
- Load event: boot-to-ready, level request-to-usable, or bundle request-to-usable.
- Data format: stream-compressed, chunk-compressed, uncompressed, or GPU-native texture format.
- Cache state: cold and warm/cached results, reported separately.
- Target: device, OS/platform, storage, and engine build.
- Outcomes: elapsed time and variability, package or bundle size, and relevant memory or visual-quality effects.
- Trace evidence: time spent reading, decompressing, converting, or doing other startup work.
There is no universal percentage or millisecond improvement to expect from compression. The useful result is the measured tradeoff for your game, target, load path, and defined event.
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