1. A method of compressing genetic sequencing data in a text-based format, the method, implemented in a processor, comprising the steps of: receiving genetic sequencing data obtained using a high throughput genetic sequencing instrument; parsing information included in text of the genetic sequencing data into a plurality of fields, wherein the information comprises title information, sequence data and quality data and wherein the plurality of fields comprises a title information field, a sequence data field and a quality data field; collecting statistics with respect to a symbol represented by strings that are included in each of the plurality of fields; for each of the plurality of fields, identifying an encoding algorithm that achieves greatest compression gains with respect to the field based on the collected statistics, by determining, for each field of the genetic sequencing data, an optimized encoding algorithm selected from the group consisting of an arithmetic encoding algorithm, a Markov encoding algorithm, and a Huffman encoding algorithm; generating bitstreams, compressed from the genetic sequencing data, by encoding each of the plurality of fields of the genetic sequencing data using the respective identified encoding algorithm; and outputting a unified bitstream by merging the generated bitstreams encoded for each of the plurality of fields.