Methods, systems, and devices are described for wireless communication. A user equipment (UE), for example, may determine a content size of an uncompressed buffer and a content size of a compressed buffer. The UE may then generate a buffer status report (BSR) based on the content sizes of the uncompressed buffer and the compressed buffer. Alternatively, a base station may receive a BSR based on a size of an uncompressed buffer of the UE. The base station may then receive a compressed packet from the UE and may determine a compression gain based on a size of the compressed packet and a size of a corresponding uncompressed packet. The base station may then adjust the received BSR based on the compression gain.