diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 0c36105..8436f83 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ SystemRescue ChangeLog
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 * Fix the type of the default definition of parameter "ar_attempts" (#266)
 * Added scripts and documentation to help build the ISO image in a docker container
+* Reduce compression ratio for initramfs on i686 to prevent a crash at build time (#261)
 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 9.01 (2022-02-10):
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index c8d3f16..c49eb3e 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ devel_build=
 snapshot_date=""
 default_kernel_param="iomem=relaxed"
 documentation_dir="/usr/share/sysrescue/html"
+mkinitcpio_comp_algo="xz"
+mkinitcpio_comp_opts="--threads=0 --verbose"
+mkinitcpio_comp_algo_devel="zstd"
+mkinitcpio_comp_opts_devel="--threads=0 --fast --verbose"
 
 verbose=""
 
@@ -37,6 +41,7 @@ case ${arch} in
         mirrorlist_url='https://archlinux.org/mirrorlist/?country=all&protocol=http&use_mirror_status=on'
         archive_prefix='https://archive.archlinux.org/repos/'
         archive_mirrorlist_file='mirrorlist-snapshot-x86_64'
+        mkinitcpio_comp_opts="--threads=0 --lzma2=preset=9e,dict=128MiB --verbose"
         ;;
     i686)
         efiarch="i386-efi"
@@ -45,6 +50,7 @@ case ${arch} in
         mirrorlist_url='https://archlinux32.org/mirrorlist/?country=all&protocol=http&use_mirror_status=on'
         archive_prefix='https://archive.archlinux32.org/repos/'
         archive_mirrorlist_file='mirrorlist-snapshot-i686'
+        mkinitcpio_comp_opts="--threads=0 --verbose"
         ;;
     *)
         echo "ERROR: Unsupported architecture: '${arch}'"
@@ -245,19 +251,17 @@ make_setup_mkinitcpio() {
         cp /usr/lib/initcpio/install/${_hook} ${work_dir}/${arch}/airootfs/etc/initcpio/install
     done
     cp /usr/lib/initcpio/install/archiso_kms ${work_dir}/${arch}/airootfs/etc/initcpio/install
-    
-    if [ -z "$devel_build" ]; then
-        # release build, high compression but slower
-        sed "s|^COMPRESSION_RELEASE=|COMPRESSION=|g;
-             s|^COMPRESSION_OPTIONS_RELEASE=|COMPRESSION_OPTIONS=|g;" \
-             ${script_path}/mkinitcpio.conf > ${work_dir}/${arch}/airootfs/etc/mkinitcpio-archiso.conf
-    else
-        # devel build, low compression but fast build time
-        sed "s|^COMPRESSION_DEVEL=|COMPRESSION=|g;
-             s|^COMPRESSION_OPTIONS_DEVEL=|COMPRESSION_OPTIONS=|g;" \
-             ${script_path}/mkinitcpio.conf > ${work_dir}/${arch}/airootfs/etc/mkinitcpio-archiso.conf
+
+    # when the "devel build" option is enabled, apply low but fast compression to reduce build time
+    if [ -n "$devel_build" ]; then
+        mkinitcpio_comp_algo="${mkinitcpio_comp_algo_devel}"
+        mkinitcpio_comp_opts="${mkinitcpio_comp_opts_devel}"
     fi
-    
+    # configure the compression algorithm and options to use for the initramfs
+    sed "s|^COMPRESSION=.*|COMPRESSION=\"${mkinitcpio_comp_algo}\"|g;
+         s|^COMPRESSION_OPTIONS=.*|COMPRESSION_OPTIONS=\"${mkinitcpio_comp_opts}\"|g;" \
+            ${script_path}/mkinitcpio.conf > ${work_dir}/${arch}/airootfs/etc/mkinitcpio-archiso.conf
+
     gnupg_fd=
     if [[ ${gpg_key} ]]; then
       gpg --export ${gpg_key} >${work_dir}/gpgkey
diff --git a/mkinitcpio.conf b/mkinitcpio.conf
index fdac3e4..c80e225 100644
--- a/mkinitcpio.conf
+++ b/mkinitcpio.conf
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 MODULES=(fuse)
 BINARIES=(jq mount.ntfs)
 HOOKS=(base udev memdisk sysrescuecfg findroot archiso archiso_loop_mnt archiso_pxe_common archiso_pxe_nbd archiso_pxe_http archiso_pxe_nfs archiso_kms block mdadm_udev modconf encrypt lvm2 filesystems keyboard)
-COMPRESSION_RELEASE="xz"
-COMPRESSION_OPTIONS_RELEASE="--threads=0 --lzma2=preset=9e,dict=128MiB --verbose"
-COMPRESSION_DEVEL="zstd"
-COMPRESSION_OPTIONS_DEVEL="--threads=0 --fast --verbose"
+COMPRESSION="xz"
+COMPRESSION_OPTIONS="--threads=0 --verbose"