diff --git a/include/dwarfs/options.h b/include/dwarfs/options.h
index 483670e1..7c71609c 100644
--- a/include/dwarfs/options.h
+++ b/include/dwarfs/options.h
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include <iosfwd>
 #include <memory>
 #include <optional>
+#include <unordered_set>
 #include <vector>
 
 #include "dwarfs/categorized_option.h"
@@ -136,6 +137,8 @@ struct scanner_options {
 struct rewrite_options {
   bool recompress_block{false};
   bool recompress_metadata{false};
+  std::unordered_set<std::string> recompress_categories;
+  bool recompress_categories_exclude{false};
   bool enable_history{true};
   std::optional<std::vector<std::string>> command_line_arguments;
   history_config history;
diff --git a/src/dwarfs/filesystem_v2.cpp b/src/dwarfs/filesystem_v2.cpp
index ba72975d..ccf43a6e 100644
--- a/src/dwarfs/filesystem_v2.cpp
+++ b/src/dwarfs/filesystem_v2.cpp
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 #include "dwarfs/options.h"
 #include "dwarfs/performance_monitor.h"
 #include "dwarfs/progress.h"
+#include "dwarfs/util.h"
 #include "dwarfs/worker_group.h"
 
 namespace dwarfs {
@@ -581,51 +582,79 @@ void filesystem_<LoggerPolicy>::rewrite(progress& prog,
 
   size_t block_no{0};
 
-  auto log_recompress =
-      [&](const auto& s,
-          std::optional<fragment_category::value_type> const& cat =
-              std::nullopt) {
+  auto log_rewrite =
+      [&](bool compressing, const auto& s,
+          std::optional<fragment_category::value_type> const& cat) {
+        auto prefix = compressing ? "recompressing" : "copying";
         std::string catinfo;
+        std::string compinfo;
         if (cat) {
           catinfo = fmt::format(", {}", cat_resolver.category_name(*cat));
         }
-        LOG_VERBOSE << "recompressing " << get_section_name(s->type()) << " ("
-                    << get_compression_name(s->compression()) << catinfo
-                    << ") using '"
-                    << writer.get_compressor(s->type(), cat).describe() << "'";
+        if (compressing) {
+          compinfo = fmt::format(
+              " using '{}'", writer.get_compressor(s->type(), cat).describe());
+        }
+        LOG_VERBOSE << prefix << " " << size_with_unit(s->length()) << " "
+                    << get_section_name(s->type()) << " ("
+                    << get_compression_name(s->compression()) << catinfo << ")"
+                    << compinfo;
       };
 
-  auto copy_compressed = [&](const auto& s) {
-    LOG_VERBOSE << "copying " << get_section_name(s->type()) << " ("
-                << get_compression_name(s->compression()) << ")";
-    writer.write_compressed_section(s->type(), s->compression(), s->data(*mm_));
-  };
+  auto log_recompress =
+      [&](const auto& s,
+          std::optional<fragment_category::value_type> const& cat =
+              std::nullopt) { log_rewrite(true, s, cat); };
+
+  auto copy_compressed =
+      [&](const auto& s,
+          std::optional<fragment_category::value_type> const& cat =
+              std::nullopt) {
+        log_rewrite(false, s, cat);
+        writer.write_compressed_section(s->type(), s->compression(),
+                                        s->data(*mm_));
+      };
 
   parser_.rewind();
 
   while (auto s = parser_.next_section()) {
     switch (s->type()) {
-    case section_type::BLOCK:
-      if (opts.recompress_block) {
-        std::optional<fragment_category::value_type> cat;
+    case section_type::BLOCK: {
+      std::optional<fragment_category::value_type> cat;
+      bool recompress_block{true};
 
-        if (auto catstr = meta_.get_block_category(block_no)) {
+      if (opts.recompress_block) {
+        auto catstr = meta_.get_block_category(block_no);
+
+        if (catstr) {
           cat = cat_resolver.category_value(catstr.value());
+
           if (!cat) {
             LOG_ERROR << "unknown category '" << catstr.value()
                       << "' for block " << block_no;
           }
-        }
 
+          if (!opts.recompress_categories.empty()) {
+            bool is_in_set{opts.recompress_categories.count(catstr.value()) >
+                           0};
+
+            recompress_block =
+                opts.recompress_categories_exclude ? !is_in_set : is_in_set;
+          }
+        }
+      }
+
+      if (recompress_block) {
         log_recompress(s, cat);
 
         writer.write_section(section_type::BLOCK, s->compression(),
                              s->data(*mm_), cat);
       } else {
-        copy_compressed(s);
+        copy_compressed(s, cat);
       }
+
       ++block_no;
-      break;
+    } break;
 
     case section_type::METADATA_V2_SCHEMA:
     case section_type::METADATA_V2:
diff --git a/src/mkdwarfs_main.cpp b/src/mkdwarfs_main.cpp
index 73ac8600..b1d5f209 100644
--- a/src/mkdwarfs_main.cpp
+++ b/src/mkdwarfs_main.cpp
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ int mkdwarfs_main(int argc, sys_char** argv) {
       metadata_compression, log_level_str, timestamp, time_resolution,
       progress_mode, recompress_opts, pack_metadata, file_hash_algo,
       debug_filter, max_similarity_size, input_list_str, chmod_str,
-      categorizer_list_str, history_compression;
+      categorizer_list_str, history_compression, recompress_categories;
   std::vector<sys_string> filter;
   std::vector<std::string> order, max_lookback_blocks, window_size, window_step,
       bloom_filter_size, compression;
@@ -376,6 +376,9 @@ int mkdwarfs_main(int argc, sys_char** argv) {
     ("recompress",
         po::value<std::string>(&recompress_opts)->implicit_value("all"),
         "recompress an existing filesystem (none, block, metadata, all)")
+    ("recompress-categories",
+        po::value<std::string>(&recompress_categories),
+        "only recompress blocks of these categories")
     ("categorize",
         po::value<std::string>(&categorizer_list_str)
           ->implicit_value("pcmaudio,incompressible"),
@@ -383,7 +386,7 @@ int mkdwarfs_main(int argc, sys_char** argv) {
     ("order",
         po::value<std::vector<std::string>>(&order)
           ->value_name("[cat::]arg")->multitoken()->composing(),
-        order_desc.c_str())  // TODO
+        order_desc.c_str())
     ("max-similarity-size",
         po::value<std::string>(&max_similarity_size),
         "maximum file size to compute similarity")
@@ -714,6 +717,15 @@ int mkdwarfs_main(int argc, sys_char** argv) {
       std::cerr << "invalid recompress mode: " << recompress_opts << "\n";
       return 1;
     }
+
+    if (!recompress_categories.empty()) {
+      std::string_view input = recompress_categories;
+      if (input.front() == '!') {
+        rw_opts.recompress_categories_exclude = true;
+        input.remove_prefix(1);
+      }
+      boost::split(rw_opts.recompress_categories, input, boost::is_any_of(","));
+    }
   }
 
   if (file_hash_algo == "none") {
@@ -1018,6 +1030,13 @@ int mkdwarfs_main(int argc, sys_char** argv) {
 
     cat_resolver = std::make_shared<filesystem_block_category_resolver>(
         input_filesystem->get_all_block_categories());
+
+    for (auto const& cat : rw_opts.recompress_categories) {
+      if (!cat_resolver->category_value(cat)) {
+        std::cerr << "error: no category '" << cat << "' in input filesystem\n";
+        return 1;
+      }
+    }
   } else {
     cat_resolver = options.inode.categorizer_mgr;
   }