For any use of the BACKUP command that creates backup sets, you can take advantage of RMAN support for binary compression of backup sets. Specify the AS COMPRESSED BACKUPSET option to the BACKUP command.
RMAN compresses the backup set contents before writing them to disk. The details of which binary compression level is used are automatically recorded in the backup set. There is no need to explicitly mention the type of compression used or how to decompress the backup set in the recovery operation.
Binary compression creates some performance overhead during backup and restore operations. Binary compression consumes CPU resources, so do not routinely schedule compressed backups when CPU usage is high. However, the following circumstances may warrant paying the performance penalty: