diff --git a/pkg/compress/compress.go b/pkg/compress/compress.go
index 07e4d28..6322097 100644
--- a/pkg/compress/compress.go
+++ b/pkg/compress/compress.go
@@ -3,11 +3,34 @@ package compress
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"compress/gzip"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 
 	"github.com/ulikunitz/xz"
 )
 
+// nopCloser wraps an io.Writer with a no-op Close method.
+type nopCloser struct{ io.Writer }
+
+func (n *nopCloser) Close() error { return nil }
+
+// NewCompressWriter returns a streaming io.WriteCloser that compresses data
+// written to it into the underlying writer w using the specified format.
+// Supported formats: "gz" (gzip), "xz", "none" or "" (passthrough).
+// Unknown formats return an error.
+func NewCompressWriter(w io.Writer, format string) (io.WriteCloser, error) {
+	switch format {
+	case "gz":
+		return gzip.NewWriter(w), nil
+	case "xz":
+		return xz.NewWriter(w)
+	case "none", "":
+		return &nopCloser{w}, nil
+	default:
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unsupported compression format: %q", format)
+	}
+}
+
 // Compress compresses data using the specified format.
 func Compress(data []byte, format string) ([]byte, error) {
 	var buf bytes.Buffer
diff --git a/pkg/compress/compress_test.go b/pkg/compress/compress_test.go
index 489bff4..3d9d75c 100644
--- a/pkg/compress/compress_test.go
+++ b/pkg/compress/compress_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,108 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 )
 
+func TestNewCompressWriter_Gzip_Good(t *testing.T) {
+	original := []byte("hello, streaming gzip world")
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+
+	w, err := NewCompressWriter(&buf, "gz")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("NewCompressWriter(gz) error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := w.Write(original); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Write error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := w.Close(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Close error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	compressed := buf.Bytes()
+	if bytes.Equal(original, compressed) {
+		t.Fatal("compressed data should differ from original")
+	}
+
+	decompressed, err := Decompress(compressed)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Decompress error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !bytes.Equal(original, decompressed) {
+		t.Errorf("round-trip mismatch: got %q, want %q", decompressed, original)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNewCompressWriter_Xz_Good(t *testing.T) {
+	original := []byte("hello, streaming xz world")
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+
+	w, err := NewCompressWriter(&buf, "xz")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("NewCompressWriter(xz) error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := w.Write(original); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Write error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := w.Close(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Close error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	compressed := buf.Bytes()
+	if bytes.Equal(original, compressed) {
+		t.Fatal("compressed data should differ from original")
+	}
+
+	decompressed, err := Decompress(compressed)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Decompress error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !bytes.Equal(original, decompressed) {
+		t.Errorf("round-trip mismatch: got %q, want %q", decompressed, original)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNewCompressWriter_None_Good(t *testing.T) {
+	original := []byte("hello, passthrough world")
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+
+	w, err := NewCompressWriter(&buf, "none")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("NewCompressWriter(none) error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := w.Write(original); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Write error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := w.Close(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Close error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if !bytes.Equal(original, buf.Bytes()) {
+		t.Errorf("passthrough mismatch: got %q, want %q", buf.Bytes(), original)
+	}
+
+	// Also test empty string format
+	var buf2 bytes.Buffer
+	w2, err := NewCompressWriter(&buf2, "")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("NewCompressWriter('') error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := w2.Write(original); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Write error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := w2.Close(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Close error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !bytes.Equal(original, buf2.Bytes()) {
+		t.Errorf("passthrough (empty string) mismatch: got %q, want %q", buf2.Bytes(), original)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNewCompressWriter_Bad(t *testing.T) {
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	_, err := NewCompressWriter(&buf, "invalid-format")
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected error for unknown compression format, got nil")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestGzip_Good(t *testing.T) {
 	originalData := []byte("hello, gzip world")
 	compressed, err := Compress(originalData, "gz")