Since the compressed data file should be usable for read-only purposes by the MySQL database management system, every record starts on a byte boundary. For easier handling by the system, every record begins with a length information for the compressed record and a length information for the total size of all uncompressed blobs of this record. Both lengths are encoded in 1 to 5 bytes, depending on its value.
A length from 1 to 253 bytes is represented in one byte. A length of 254 to 65535 bytes (64KB-1) is represented by three bytes. The first contains the value 254 and the next two bytes contain the plain length. The low order byte goes first. A length of 65536 to 4294967295 bytes (4GB-1) is represented by five bytes. The first contains the value 255 and the next four bytes contain the plain length. The low order byte goes first.
The encoded compressed record length does not include these length bytes. It tells the number of bytes which follow behind the length bytes for this record.