Compress—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop

Summary

Compresses an enterprise geodatabase by removing states not referenced by a version and redundant rows.

To improve geodatabase performance, the geodatabase should be compressed periodically. A compressed geodatabase is more efficient. A geodatabase that is never compressed is more likely to develop errors.
Once a geodatabase is compressed, deleted records cannot be recovered.
Compression of geodatabases not only reduces space requirements but can also reduce overall retrieval times.
When the Compress tool is executed, the geodatabase is unavailable until compression is completed.
Only the geodatabase administrator can perform compression.

Compress_management (in_workspace)

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
in_workspace	Specify the database connection file that connects to the enterprise geodatabase to be compressed. Connect as the geodatabase administrator.	Workspace

This stand-alone Python script uses the Compress tool to compress the geodatabase.

import arcpy
 
arcpy.Compress_management("c:/Connection to brockville.sde")