A method is provided for transferring print data from a host computer to a printer connected to the host. According to the method, a transfer rate determiner of the host determines the data transfer rate of the interface between the host and the printer. Before the print data is transferred from the host to the printer, the data compress/decompress time by several compression methods is estimated. Also, the data transfer time for the compressed print data is estimated. These times are added to provide a total data process time. Meanwhile, data transfer time for non-compressed print data is estimated. The total data process time for the compressed data and the data transfer time for the non-compressed data are compared to determine the most efficient print data transfer scheme.