Methods, systems, and devices for a compression method for defect visibility in a memory device are described. A memory device may identify one or more errors associated with a set of memory cells of a memory array in the device based on a first set of data associated with the first set of memory cells. The memory device may generate an indication of a location of the one or more errors in the first set of memory cells and compress the first set of data to generate an error flag based on identifying the one or more errors. The memory device may output the error flag and the indication of the location based on generating the error flag and the indication.