diff --git a/src/bin/indexer.rs b/src/bin/indexer.rs
index f9c5960ee..73c1ef334 100644
--- a/src/bin/indexer.rs
+++ b/src/bin/indexer.rs
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ const WORD_ATTRIBUTE_DOCIDS_BYTE: u8 = 3;
 static ALLOC: jemallocator::Jemalloc = jemallocator::Jemalloc;
 
 #[derive(Debug, StructOpt)]
-#[structopt(name = "milli-indexer", about = "The indexer binary of the milli project.")]
+#[structopt(name = "milli-indexer")]
+/// The indexer binary of the milli project.
 struct Opt {
     /// The database path where the database is located.
     /// It is created if it doesn't already exist.
@@ -56,6 +57,28 @@ struct Opt {
     #[structopt(short, long)]
     jobs: Option<usize>,
 
+    #[structopt(flatten)]
+    indexer: IndexerOpt,
+
+    /// The name of the compression algorithm to use when compressing the final documents database.
+    #[structopt(long, default_value = "zlib", possible_values = &["snappy", "zlib", "lz4", "lz4hc", "zstd"])]
+    documents_compression_type: String,
+
+    /// The level of compression of the chosen algorithm.
+    #[structopt(long, default_value = "9")]
+    documents_compression_level: u32,
+
+    /// Verbose mode (-v, -vv, -vvv, etc.)
+    #[structopt(short, long, parse(from_occurrences))]
+    verbose: usize,
+
+    /// CSV file to index, if unspecified the CSV is read from standard input.
+    /// Note that it is much faster to index from a file.
+    csv_file: Option<PathBuf>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, StructOpt)]
+struct IndexerOpt {
     /// MTBL max number of chunks in bytes.
     #[structopt(long)]
     max_nb_chunks: Option<usize>,
@@ -68,13 +91,27 @@ struct Opt {
     #[structopt(long)]
     arc_cache_size: Option<usize>,
 
-    /// Verbose mode (-v, -vv, -vvv, etc.)
-    #[structopt(short, long, parse(from_occurrences))]
-    verbose: usize,
+    /// The name of the compression algorithm to use when compressing intermediate
+    /// chunks during indexing documents.
+    ///
+    /// Choosing a fast algorithm will make the indexing faster but may consume more memory.
+    #[structopt(long, default_value = "snappy", possible_values = &["snappy", "zlib", "lz4", "lz4hc", "zstd"])]
+    chunk_compression_type: String,
 
-    /// CSV file to index, if unspecified the CSV is read from standard input.
-    /// Note that it is much faster to index from a file.
-    csv_file: Option<PathBuf>,
+    /// The level of compression of the chosen algorithm.
+    #[structopt(long, requires = "chunk-compression-type")]
+    chunk_compression_level: Option<u32>,
+}
+
+fn compression_type_from_str(name: &str) -> CompressionType {
+    match name {
+        "snappy" => CompressionType::Snappy,
+        "zlib" => CompressionType::Zlib,
+        "lz4" => CompressionType::Lz4,
+        "lz4hc" => CompressionType::Lz4hc,
+        "zstd" => CompressionType::Zstd,
+        _ => panic!("invalid compression algorithm"),
+    }
 }
 
 fn lmdb_key_valid_size(key: &[u8]) -> bool {
@@ -92,9 +129,19 @@ struct Store {
 }
 
 impl Store {
-    fn new(arc_cache_size: Option<usize>, max_nb_chunks: Option<usize>, max_memory: Option<usize>) -> Store {
+    fn new(
+        arc_cache_size: Option<usize>,
+        max_nb_chunks: Option<usize>,
+        max_memory: Option<usize>,
+        chunk_compression_type: CompressionType,
+        chunk_compression_level: Option<u32>,
+    ) -> Store
+    {
         let mut builder = Sorter::builder(merge as MergeFn);
-        builder.chunk_compression_type(CompressionType::Snappy);
+        builder.chunk_compression_type(chunk_compression_type);
+        if let Some(level) = chunk_compression_level {
+            builder.chunk_compression_level(level);
+        }
         if let Some(nb_chunks) = max_nb_chunks {
             builder.max_nb_chunks(nb_chunks);
         }
@@ -103,7 +150,10 @@ impl Store {
         }
 
         let mut documents_builder = Sorter::builder(docs_merge as MergeFn);
-        documents_builder.chunk_compression_type(CompressionType::Snappy);
+        documents_builder.chunk_compression_type(chunk_compression_type);
+        if let Some(level) = chunk_compression_level {
+            builder.chunk_compression_level(level);
+        }
 
         let arc_cache_size = arc_cache_size.unwrap_or(65_535);
 
@@ -354,11 +404,19 @@ fn index_csv(
     arc_cache_size: Option<usize>,
     max_nb_chunks: Option<usize>,
     max_memory: Option<usize>,
+    chunk_compression_type: CompressionType,
+    chunk_compression_level: Option<u32>,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<(Reader<Mmap>, Reader<Mmap>)>
 {
     debug!("{:?}: Indexing into a Store...", thread_index);
 
-    let mut store = Store::new(arc_cache_size, max_nb_chunks, max_memory);
+    let mut store = Store::new(
+        arc_cache_size,
+        max_nb_chunks,
+        max_memory,
+        chunk_compression_type,
+        chunk_compression_level,
+    );
 
     // Write the headers into a Vec of bytes and then into the store.
     let headers = rdr.headers()?;
@@ -427,9 +485,13 @@ fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
 
     let documents_path = opt.database.join("documents.mtbl");
     let num_threads = rayon::current_num_threads();
-    let arc_cache_size = opt.arc_cache_size;
-    let max_nb_chunks = opt.max_nb_chunks;
-    let max_memory = opt.max_memory;
+    let arc_cache_size = opt.indexer.arc_cache_size;
+    let max_nb_chunks = opt.indexer.max_nb_chunks;
+    let max_memory = opt.indexer.max_memory;
+    let chunk_compression_type = compression_type_from_str(&opt.indexer.chunk_compression_type);
+    let chunk_compression_level = opt.indexer.chunk_compression_level;
+    let documents_compression_type = compression_type_from_str(&opt.documents_compression_type);
+    let documents_compression_level = opt.documents_compression_level;
 
     let csv_readers = match opt.csv_file {
         Some(file_path) => {
@@ -472,7 +534,18 @@ fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     let readers = csv_readers
         .into_par_iter()
         .enumerate()
-        .map(|(i, rdr)| index_csv(rdr, i, num_threads, arc_cache_size, max_nb_chunks, max_memory))
+        .map(|(i, rdr)| {
+            index_csv(
+                rdr,
+                i,
+                num_threads,
+                arc_cache_size,
+                max_nb_chunks,
+                max_memory,
+                chunk_compression_type,
+                chunk_compression_level,
+            )
+        })
         .collect::<Result<Vec<_>, _>>()?;
 
     let mut stores = Vec::with_capacity(readers.len());
@@ -494,7 +567,10 @@ fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     }, || {
         // We also merge the documents into its own MTBL store.
         let file = OpenOptions::new().create(true).truncate(true).write(true).read(true).open(documents_path)?;
-        let mut writer = Writer::builder().compression_type(CompressionType::Zlib).compression_level(9).build(file);
+        let mut writer = Writer::builder()
+            .compression_type(documents_compression_type)
+            .compression_level(documents_compression_level)
+            .build(file);
         let mut builder = Merger::builder(docs_merge);
         builder.extend(docs_stores);
         builder.build().write_into(&mut writer)?;