Use the directory
output format because it works better with
incremental backups and is most flexible when restoring.
Do not compress because the overwhelming majority of the contents of the MAAS database is already compressed images. For a MAAS installation with one image the saving due to compression was only 1.7% but the dump took noticeably longer. With more images the ratio of already-compressed to not-compressed data goes up, and the savings will likely drop.