This is widely cited as the authoritative source for “highly compressed work” in emulation.
Highly compressed Dolphin games work by utilizing specialized file formats—most notably —that strip away "junk" data or apply advanced algorithms to reduce file sizes without sacrificing gameplay performance. While standard compression like ZIP or 7z can be used for storage, they are generally not "seekable," meaning the Dolphin Emulator cannot read them directly during play without a massive performance hit. How Highly Compressed Dolphin Games Work dolphin games highly compressed work
For a gamer building a “full ROM set” (e.g., every GameCube game ever released), that’s over 1.5TB of data. By leveraging highly compressed work formats, that same collection can shrink to under 300GB. This is widely cited as the authoritative source
Be careful with files labeled "Ultra Compressed" or "Rip" (which remove music or cutscenes). These often cause specific errors that the Dolphin Progress Reports frequently work to fix: Physics Bugs How Highly Compressed Dolphin Games Work For a