diff --git a/lucene/CHANGES.txt b/lucene/CHANGES.txt
index 67e4a6be5d5..b7a292e12cc 100644
--- a/lucene/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/lucene/CHANGES.txt
@@ -248,6 +248,12 @@ New Features
 
 * LUCENE-5063: FieldCache.DEFAULT.get(Ints|Longs) now uses bit-packing to save
   memory. (Adrien Grand)
+
+API Changes
+
+* LUCENE-5077: Make it easier to use compressed norms. Lucene42NormsFormat takes
+  an overhead parameter, so you can easily pass a different value other than
+  PackedInts.FASTEST from your own codec.  (Robert Muir)
   
 Build
 
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene42/Lucene42DocValuesFormat.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene42/Lucene42DocValuesFormat.java
index bb384c7d0ab..3e81004493d 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene42/Lucene42DocValuesFormat.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene42/Lucene42DocValuesFormat.java
@@ -120,16 +120,33 @@ import org.apache.lucene.util.packed.BlockPackedWriter;
  * </ol>
  */
 public final class Lucene42DocValuesFormat extends DocValuesFormat {
-
-  /** Sole constructor */
+  final float acceptableOverheadRatio;
+  
+  /** 
+   * Calls {@link #Lucene42DocValuesFormat(float) 
+   * Lucene42DocValuesFormat(PackedInts.DEFAULT)} 
+   */
   public Lucene42DocValuesFormat() {
+    this(PackedInts.DEFAULT);
+  }
+  
+  /**
+   * Creates a new Lucene42DocValuesFormat with the specified
+   * <code>acceptableOverheadRatio</code> for NumericDocValues.
+   * @param acceptableOverheadRatio compression parameter for numerics. 
+   *        Currently this is only used when the number of unique values is small.
+   *        
+   * @lucene.experimental
+   */
+  public Lucene42DocValuesFormat(float acceptableOverheadRatio) {
     super("Lucene42");
+    this.acceptableOverheadRatio = acceptableOverheadRatio;
   }
 
   @Override
   public DocValuesConsumer fieldsConsumer(SegmentWriteState state) throws IOException {
     // note: we choose DEFAULT here (its reasonably fast, and for small bpv has tiny waste)
-    return new Lucene42DocValuesConsumer(state, DATA_CODEC, DATA_EXTENSION, METADATA_CODEC, METADATA_EXTENSION, PackedInts.DEFAULT);
+    return new Lucene42DocValuesConsumer(state, DATA_CODEC, DATA_EXTENSION, METADATA_CODEC, METADATA_EXTENSION, acceptableOverheadRatio);
   }
   
   @Override
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene42/Lucene42NormsFormat.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene42/Lucene42NormsFormat.java
index 9c07bc3e5e1..a7c8c1a2aa7 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene42/Lucene42NormsFormat.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/lucene42/Lucene42NormsFormat.java
@@ -42,14 +42,32 @@ import org.apache.lucene.util.packed.PackedInts;
  * @see Lucene42DocValuesFormat
  */
 public final class Lucene42NormsFormat extends NormsFormat {
+  final float acceptableOverheadRatio;
 
-  /** Sole constructor */
-  public Lucene42NormsFormat() {}
+  /** 
+   * Calls {@link #Lucene42NormsFormat(float) 
+   * Lucene42DocValuesFormat(PackedInts.FASTEST)} 
+   */
+  public Lucene42NormsFormat() {
+    // note: we choose FASTEST here (otherwise our norms are half as big but 15% slower than previous lucene)
+    this(PackedInts.FASTEST);
+  }
+  
+  /**
+   * Creates a new Lucene42DocValuesFormat with the specified
+   * <code>acceptableOverheadRatio</code> for NumericDocValues.
+   * @param acceptableOverheadRatio compression parameter for numerics. 
+   *        Currently this is only used when the number of unique values is small.
+   *        
+   * @lucene.experimental
+   */
+  public Lucene42NormsFormat(float acceptableOverheadRatio) {
+    this.acceptableOverheadRatio = acceptableOverheadRatio;
+  }
   
   @Override
   public DocValuesConsumer normsConsumer(SegmentWriteState state) throws IOException {
-    // note: we choose FASTEST here (otherwise our norms are half as big but 15% slower than previous lucene)
-    return new Lucene42DocValuesConsumer(state, DATA_CODEC, DATA_EXTENSION, METADATA_CODEC, METADATA_EXTENSION, PackedInts.FASTEST);
+    return new Lucene42DocValuesConsumer(state, DATA_CODEC, DATA_EXTENSION, METADATA_CODEC, METADATA_EXTENSION, acceptableOverheadRatio);
   }
   
   @Override
diff --git a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/compressing/FastCompressingCodec.java b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/compressing/FastCompressingCodec.java
index 252ba5d0fa3..24f41ab2995 100644
--- a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/compressing/FastCompressingCodec.java
+++ b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/compressing/FastCompressingCodec.java
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 package org.apache.lucene.codecs.compressing;
 
+import org.apache.lucene.codecs.DocValuesFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.codecs.NormsFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.codecs.lucene42.Lucene42DocValuesFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.codecs.lucene42.Lucene42NormsFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.util.packed.PackedInts;
+
 /*
  * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
  * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
@@ -32,4 +38,13 @@ public class FastCompressingCodec extends CompressingCodec {
     this(1 << 14, false);
   }
 
+  @Override
+  public NormsFormat normsFormat() {
+    return new Lucene42NormsFormat(PackedInts.FAST);
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public DocValuesFormat docValuesFormat() {
+    return new Lucene42DocValuesFormat(PackedInts.FAST);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/compressing/FastDecompressionCompressingCodec.java b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/compressing/FastDecompressionCompressingCodec.java
index 568a649289e..7c6ba48f91d 100644
--- a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/compressing/FastDecompressionCompressingCodec.java
+++ b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/compressing/FastDecompressionCompressingCodec.java
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 package org.apache.lucene.codecs.compressing;
 
+import org.apache.lucene.codecs.DocValuesFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.codecs.NormsFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.codecs.lucene42.Lucene42DocValuesFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.codecs.lucene42.Lucene42NormsFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.util.packed.PackedInts;
+
 /*
  * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
  * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
@@ -32,4 +38,13 @@ public class FastDecompressionCompressingCodec extends CompressingCodec {
     this(1 << 14, false);
   }
 
+  @Override
+  public NormsFormat normsFormat() {
+    return new Lucene42NormsFormat(PackedInts.DEFAULT);
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public DocValuesFormat docValuesFormat() {
+    return new Lucene42DocValuesFormat(PackedInts.DEFAULT);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/compressing/HighCompressionCompressingCodec.java b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/compressing/HighCompressionCompressingCodec.java
index fb235f95218..2f1fc293592 100644
--- a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/compressing/HighCompressionCompressingCodec.java
+++ b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/codecs/compressing/HighCompressionCompressingCodec.java
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 package org.apache.lucene.codecs.compressing;
 
+import org.apache.lucene.codecs.NormsFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.codecs.lucene42.Lucene42NormsFormat;
+import org.apache.lucene.util.packed.PackedInts;
+
 /*
  * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
  * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
@@ -32,4 +36,8 @@ public class HighCompressionCompressingCodec extends CompressingCodec {
     this(1 << 14, false);
   }
 
+  @Override
+  public NormsFormat normsFormat() {
+    return new Lucene42NormsFormat(PackedInts.COMPACT);
+  }
 }