Disclosed embodiments include a system having a first memory, a second memory, circuitry that reads data quantities from the first memory along a first orientation, a compression engine that compresses each of the read data quantities to produce corresponding compressed data quantities, and circuitry that writes the compressed data quantities to the second memory along a second orientation which differs from the first orientation. The read data quantities have a first bit width and the compressed data quantities have a second bit width that is less than the first bit width.