A text message is first parsed into its constituent semantic components such as header fields and body components. Then, different compression methods may be performed on each semantic component depending on the importance of the semantic component, the context of the semantic component, the characteristics of the semantic component, and whether or not the semantic component uses natural language expressions. For example, it is determined what compression method, if any, is to be performed on the semantic component. Each semantic component may be compressed individually. Since text compression takes the unique features of each semantic component into consideration rather than considering the text message as a monolithic text unit, a more intuitive text compression results.