diff --git a/fs/f2fs/file.c b/fs/f2fs/file.c
index 82cda1258227..f96bbfa8b399 100644
--- a/fs/f2fs/file.c
+++ b/fs/f2fs/file.c
@@ -1915,6 +1915,10 @@ static int f2fs_setflags_common(struct inode *inode, u32 iflags, u32 mask)
 			if (!f2fs_disable_compressed_file(inode))
 				return -EINVAL;
 		} else {
+			/* try to convert inline_data to support compression */
+			int err = f2fs_convert_inline_inode(inode);
+			if (err)
+				return err;
 			if (!f2fs_may_compress(inode))
 				return -EINVAL;
 			if (S_ISREG(inode->i_mode) && F2FS_HAS_BLOCKS(inode))