

Put more simply, the compression ratio is the measurement of compressed gas to uncompressed gas, or how tightly the air/gas mixture fits within the combustion chamber before it’s ignited by the spark plug. They may seem complicated at first, but they’re really just basic geometry.Īn engine’s compression ratio measures two things: the ratio of the volume of gas in the cylinder when the piston is at the top of the stroke (top dead center, or TDC), compared to the volume of gas when the piston is at the bottom of the stroke (bottom dead center, or BDC). There are a few equations needed to calculate the compression ratio if you’re doing it manually.

Whether you’re building a new engine and you need the metric, or you’re curious to know how efficient your car uses fuel, you have to be able to calculate the engine’s compression ratio.
