An exemplary method for intelligent compression defines a threshold value for a temperature reading generated by a temperature sensor. Data blocks received into the compression module are compressed according to either a first mode or a second mode, the selection of which is determined based on a comparison of the active level for the temperature reading to the defined threshold value. The first compression mode may be associated with a lossless compression algorithm while the second compression mode is associated with a lossy compression algorithm. Or, both the first compression mode and the second compression mode may be associated with a lossless compression algorithm, however, for the first compression mode the received data blocks are produced at a default high quality level setting while for the second compression mode the received data blocks are produced at a reduced quality level setting.