diff --git a/vidformer-py/vidformer/cv2/vf_cv2.py b/vidformer-py/vidformer/cv2/vf_cv2.py
index c83b16b..4c48c4d 100644
--- a/vidformer-py/vidformer/cv2/vf_cv2.py
+++ b/vidformer-py/vidformer/cv2/vf_cv2.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import uuid
 from fractions import Fraction
 from bisect import bisect_right
+import zlib
 
 CAP_PROP_POS_MSEC = 0
 CAP_PROP_POS_FRAMES = 1
@@ -218,15 +219,22 @@ def _inline_frame(arr):
     if arr.shape[2] != 3:
         raise Exception("To inline a frame, the array must have 3 channels")
 
-    # convert BGR to RGB
     arr = arr[:, :, ::-1]
+    if not arr.flags["C_CONTIGUOUS"]:
+        arr = np.ascontiguousarray(arr)
 
     width = arr.shape[1]
     height = arr.shape[0]
     pix_fmt = "rgb24"
 
-    f = _inline_mat(arr.tobytes(), width=width, height=height, pix_fmt=pix_fmt)
+    data_gzip = zlib.compress(memoryview(arr), level=1)
+
+    f = _inline_mat(
+        data_gzip, width=width, height=height, pix_fmt=pix_fmt, compression="zlib"
+    )
     fmt = {"width": width, "height": height, "pix_fmt": pix_fmt}
+
+    # Return the resulting Frame object
     return Frame(f, fmt)
 
 
diff --git a/vidformer-py/vidformer/igni/vf_igni.py b/vidformer-py/vidformer/igni/vf_igni.py
index b816f48..3ca8ba7 100644
--- a/vidformer-py/vidformer/igni/vf_igni.py
+++ b/vidformer-py/vidformer/igni/vf_igni.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from .. import vf
 
 import requests
+import json
 from fractions import Fraction
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
diff --git a/vidformer/Cargo.toml b/vidformer/Cargo.toml
index 0e3d852..9dbc7ff 100644
--- a/vidformer/Cargo.toml
+++ b/vidformer/Cargo.toml
@@ -28,3 +28,4 @@ opendal = { version = "0.51", features = ["layers-blocking", "services-fs", "ser
 tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
 rmp-serde = "1.3.0"
 serde_bytes = "0.11"
+flate2 = "1.0"
diff --git a/vidformer/src/filter/builtin.rs b/vidformer/src/filter/builtin.rs
index 58a5f14..e991563 100644
--- a/vidformer/src/filter/builtin.rs
+++ b/vidformer/src/filter/builtin.rs
@@ -794,11 +794,32 @@ impl super::Filter for InlineMat {
             _ => panic!("Expected int"),
         };
 
-        let data = match &args[0] {
+        let compression = match kwargs.get("compression") {
+            Some(Val::String(s)) => Option::Some(s),
+            _ => Option::None,
+        };
+
+        let mut data = match &args[0] {
             Val::Bytes(b) => b,
             _ => panic!("Expected bytes"),
         };
 
+        let mut decompressed: Vec<u8> = Vec::new();
+        if let Some(compression) = compression {
+            assert_eq!(compression, "zlib");
+
+            let mut decoder = flate2::read::ZlibDecoder::new(&data[..]);
+            use std::io::Read;
+            decoder.read_to_end(&mut decompressed).unwrap();
+            data = &decompressed;
+            if data.len() != width as usize * height as usize * 3 {
+                return Err(Error::InvalidFilterArgValue(
+                    format!("{:?}", data.len()),
+                    "Invalid data length".to_string(),
+                ));
+            }
+        }
+
         let f = unsafe { ffi::av_frame_alloc() };
         if f.is_null() {
             panic!("ERROR could not allocate frame");
@@ -858,6 +879,20 @@ impl super::Filter for InlineMat {
             _ => return Err(Error::MissingFilterArg),
         };
 
+        let compression = match kwargs.get("compression") {
+            Some(Val::String(s)) => Option::Some(s),
+            _ => Option::None,
+        };
+
+        if let Some(compression) = compression {
+            if compression != "zlib" {
+                return Err(Error::InvalidFilterArgValue(
+                    compression.clone(),
+                    "Invalid compression".to_string(),
+                ));
+            }
+        }
+
         if pix_fmt != "rgb24" {
             return Err(Error::InvalidFilterArgValue(
                 pix_fmt.clone(),
@@ -882,7 +917,7 @@ impl super::Filter for InlineMat {
         };
 
         // check if data length matches width, height, and pix_fmt
-        if data.len() != width as usize * height as usize * 3 {
+        if compression.is_none() && data.len() != width as usize * height as usize * 3 {
             return Err(Error::InvalidFilterArgValue(
                 format!("{:?}", data.len()),
                 "Invalid data length".to_string(),