1. A computer-implemented method comprising: compressing, by a computer associated with a database, one or more data elements using a compression technique, the compression technique compressing the data elements such that each respective data element is individually decompressed when the data element is returned in response to a search query; storing, by the computer, the one or more data elements into a database record comprising one or more data fields, wherein each respective compressed data element is stored into a data field of the record configured to store a type of data element of the respective data element; responsive to the computer receiving a search query requesting a set of one or more data elements stored in one or more records of the database: querying, by the computer, the database for the set of one or more data elements satisfying the search query; and decompressing, by the computer, using the compression technique each respective data element in the set of one or more data elements satisfying the search query.