diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/compress/AdaptiveCompressor.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/compress/AdaptiveCompressor.java
index b4179745da2f..e83a2c859209 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/compress/AdaptiveCompressor.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/compress/AdaptiveCompressor.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 import org.apache.cassandra.config.DatabaseDescriptor;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.compaction.CompactionManager;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.memtable.AbstractAllocatorMemtable;
+import org.apache.cassandra.io.util.FileUtils;
 import org.apache.cassandra.metrics.CassandraMetricsRegistry;
 import org.apache.cassandra.metrics.DefaultNameFactory;
 import org.apache.cassandra.metrics.MetricNameFactory;
@@ -128,6 +129,16 @@ private static AdaptiveCompressor createForCompaction(int minCompressionLevel, i
         return instances.computeIfAbsent(params, p -> new AdaptiveCompressor(p, compactionPressureSupplier));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Creates a compressor that doesn't refer to any other C* components like compaction manager or memory pools.
+     */
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    public static ICompressor createForUnitTesting()
+    {
+        Params params = new Params(Uses.GENERAL, 9, 9, 0);
+        return new AdaptiveCompressor(params, () -> 0.0);
+    }
+
     public static AdaptiveCompressor createForFlush(Map<String, String> options)
     {
         int minCompressionLevel = getMinCompressionLevel(Uses.FAST_COMPRESSION, options);
@@ -145,6 +156,7 @@ private static AdaptiveCompressor createForFlush(int minCompressionLevel, int ma
     private final ThreadLocal<State> state;
     private final Supplier<Double> writePressureSupplier;
 
+
     static class Params
     {
         final Uses use;
@@ -422,13 +434,20 @@ private static double getFlushPressure()
     private static double getCompactionPressure(int maxCompactionQueueLength)
     {
         CompactionManager compactionManager = CompactionManager.instance;
-        double rateLimit = DatabaseDescriptor.getCompactionThroughputMbPerSec() * 1000 * 1000;
-        double actualRate = compactionManager.getMetrics().meanCompactionReadThroughput.getValue();
+        long rateLimit = DatabaseDescriptor.getCompactionThroughputMbPerSec() * FileUtils.ONE_MB;
+        if (rateLimit == 0)
+            rateLimit = Long.MAX_VALUE;
+        double actualRate = compactionManager.getMetrics().bytesCompactedThroughput.getOneMinuteRate();
+        // We don't want to speed up compression if we can keep up with the configured compression rate limit
+        // 0.0 if actualRate >= rateLimit
+        // 1.0 if actualRate <= 0.8 * rateLimit;
+        double rateLimitFactor = Math.min(1.0, Math.max(0.0, (rateLimit - actualRate) / (0.2 * rateLimit)));
 
         long pendingCompactions = compactionManager.getPendingTasks();
         long activeCompactions = compactionManager.getActiveCompactions();
         long queuedCompactions = pendingCompactions - activeCompactions;
-        return (double) queuedCompactions / (maxCompactionQueueLength * DatabaseDescriptor.getConcurrentCompactors());
+        double compactionQueuePressure = Math.min(1.0, (double) queuedCompactions / (maxCompactionQueueLength * DatabaseDescriptor.getConcurrentCompactors()));
+        return compactionQueuePressure * rateLimitFactor;
     }
 
     private int clampCompressionLevel(long compressionLevel)
diff --git a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/compress/CompressorTest.java b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/compress/CompressorTest.java
index 42ad77a95ded..7cf37844892e 100644
--- a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/compress/CompressorTest.java
+++ b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/compress/CompressorTest.java
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ public static void initialize()
             DeflateCompressor.create(Collections.<String, String>emptyMap()),
             SnappyCompressor.create(Collections.<String, String>emptyMap()),
             ZstdCompressor.create(Collections.emptyMap()),
-            AdaptiveCompressor.create(Collections.emptyMap()),
+            AdaptiveCompressor.createForUnitTesting(),
             NoopCompressor.create(Collections.emptyMap())
     };
 
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ public void testZstdByteBuffers() throws IOException
     @Test
     public void testAdaptiveByteBuffers() throws IOException
     {
-        compressor = AdaptiveCompressor.create(Collections.<String, String>emptyMap());
+        compressor = AdaptiveCompressor.createForUnitTesting();
         testByteBuffers();
     }