diff --git a/pkg/lib/datastore.go b/pkg/lib/datastore.go
index 8b0d7e0..a8611f7 100644
--- a/pkg/lib/datastore.go
+++ b/pkg/lib/datastore.go
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ func (d *DatabaseStore) GetItems(bundleIds ...any) (itemRowIds []int64, itemRows
 		}
 
 		// ItemData can be stored as compressed data
-		itemRow.ItemData, err = utils.ShouldDecompress(itemRow.ItemData, itemRow.Compression)
+		itemRow.ItemData, err = utils.DecompressWhenNeeded(itemRow.ItemData, itemRow.Compression)
 
 		itemRows = append(itemRows, &itemRow)
 		itemRowIds = append(itemRowIds, itemRow.Id)
@@ -359,7 +359,7 @@ func (d *DatabaseStore) GetDataItemRowsInABundle(bundleId string) (itemRows []*T
 		}
 
 		// ItemData can be stored as compressed data
-		dataitemRow.ItemData, err = utils.ShouldDecompress(dataitemRow.ItemData, dataitemRow.Compression)
+		dataitemRow.ItemData, err = utils.DecompressWhenNeeded(dataitemRow.ItemData, dataitemRow.Compression)
 
 		itemRows = append(itemRows, &dataitemRow)
 
diff --git a/pkg/lib/items.go b/pkg/lib/items.go
index db8a392..48f97bf 100644
--- a/pkg/lib/items.go
+++ b/pkg/lib/items.go
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ func (t *TelemetryDataItemRow) Exists(db *sql.DB) bool {
 }
 
 func (t *TelemetryDataItemRow) Insert(db *sql.DB) (err error) {
-	itemData, compression, err := utils.ShouldCompress(t.ItemData)
+	itemData, compression, err := utils.CompressWhenNeeded(t.ItemData)
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/utils/utils.go b/pkg/utils/utils.go
index c2147be..7806083 100644
--- a/pkg/utils/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/utils/utils.go
@@ -76,25 +76,29 @@ func DecompressGZIP(compressedData []byte) (decompressedData []byte, err error)
 // TODO: check if it's worth trying to compress the data prior to compressing it (e.g: using entropy algorithms)
 // This would save some CPU usage client side
 // TODO: have telemetry data type be passed in as a parameter to further check if we should compress data and which algorithm to use (e.g: deflate or gzip)
-func ShouldCompress(data []byte) (resultData []byte, compression *string, err error) {
+func CompressWhenNeeded(data []byte) (resultData []byte, compression *string, err error) {
 	// 'compression' is inserted as a sql.NullString, hence it is returned as a nullable string
-	var nilStr *string = nil
 	var validStr string = "gzip"
 
+	// check whether it's worth compressing
+	if len(data) <= 80 {
+		return data, nil, nil
+	}
+
 	compressedData, err := CompressGZIP(data)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatal(err)
+		return data, nil, err
 	}
 
 	if len(data) <= len(compressedData) {
-		return data, nilStr, nil
+		return data, nil, nil
 	}
 
 	return compressedData, &validStr, nil
 }
 
 // TODO: have telemetry data type be passed in as a parameter to further check if we should decompress data and which algorithm to use (e.g: deflate or gzip)
-func ShouldDecompress(data []byte, compression sql.NullString) (resultData []byte, err error) {
+func DecompressWhenNeeded(data []byte, compression sql.NullString) (resultData []byte, err error) {
 	if compression.Valid {
 		resultData, err = DecompressGZIP(data)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/utils/utils_test.go b/pkg/utils/utils_test.go
index da4cf37..1608923 100644
--- a/pkg/utils/utils_test.go
+++ b/pkg/utils/utils_test.go
@@ -15,13 +15,13 @@ func TestCompressDecompressGZIP(t *testing.T) {
 	// Compress data
 	compressedData, err := CompressGZIP(mockData)
 	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("Error compressing data: %v", err)
+		t.Errorf("Error compressing data: %v", err)
 	}
 
 	// Decompress data to verify
 	decompressedData, err := DecompressGZIP(compressedData)
 	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("Error decompressing data: %v", err)
+		t.Errorf("Error decompressing data: %v", err)
 	}
 
 	if !bytes.Equal(mockData, decompressedData) {
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ func TestCompressDecompressGZIP(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// TestShouldCompress tests ShouldCompress function
-func TestShouldCompress(t *testing.T) {
+// TestCompressWhenNeeded tests CompressWhenNeeded function
+func TestCompressWhenNeeded(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		name           string
 		data           []byte
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ func TestShouldCompress(t *testing.T) {
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			compressedData, compression, err := ShouldCompress(tt.data)
+			compressedData, compression, err := CompressWhenNeeded(tt.data)
 			if err != nil {
 				t.Fatalf("Error determining whether or not to compress data: %v", err)
 			}
@@ -70,8 +70,8 @@ func TestShouldCompress(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// TestShouldDecompress tests ShouldDecompress function
-func TestShouldDecompress(t *testing.T) {
+// TestDecompressWhenNeeded tests DecompressWhenNeeded function
+func TestDecompressWhenNeeded(t *testing.T) {
 	compressedData, _ := CompressGZIP([]byte("test data"))
 	tests := []struct {
 		name         string
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ func TestShouldDecompress(t *testing.T) {
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			resultData, err := ShouldDecompress(tt.data, tt.compression)
+			resultData, err := DecompressWhenNeeded(tt.data, tt.compression)
 			if (err != nil) != tt.expectErr {
 				t.Errorf("expected error: %v, got: %v", tt.expectErr, err)
 			}