Abstract. There is a need to properly define soil compaction as one of the complex soil characteristics relevant to agriculture since it greatly influences plant growth and energy consumption. The level of soil compaction may be described by many, well known, parameters, which also can be comparatively analysed according to its sensitivity and ability to describe soil reaction to the applied load. This paper presents a specific analysis of soil com­paction measurement methods based on laboratory testing. The sensitivity of usual compaction parameters such as tire sinkage, cone index and soil bulk density, as well as needle penetration were taken into consideration. The paper also includes the critical analysis of different mea­surement techniques and its possibility to be a source of valuable agricultural information.