diff --git a/src/repart/repart.c b/src/repart/repart.c
index dbf261bb26..456aed41bd 100644
--- a/src/repart/repart.c
+++ b/src/repart/repart.c
@@ -6785,7 +6785,8 @@ static int context_mkfs(Context *context) {
                  * have to populate using the filesystem's mkfs's --root= (or equivalent) option. To do that,
                  * we need to set up the final directory tree beforehand. */
 
-                if (partition_needs_populate(p) && (!t->loop || fstype_is_ro(p->format))) {
+                if (partition_needs_populate(p) &&
+                    (!t->loop || fstype_is_ro(p->format) || (streq_ptr(p->format, "btrfs") && p->compression))) {
                         if (!mkfs_supports_root_option(p->format))
                                 return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(ENODEV),
                                                         "Loop device access is required to populate %s filesystems.",
@@ -8533,7 +8534,7 @@ static int context_minimize(Context *context) {
                                 return r;
                 }
 
-                if (!d || fstype_is_ro(p->format)) {
+                if (!d || fstype_is_ro(p->format) || (streq_ptr(p->format, "btrfs") && p->compression)) {
                         if (!mkfs_supports_root_option(p->format))
                                 return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(ENODEV),
                                                        "Loop device access is required to populate %s filesystems.",