diff --git a/src/terminal/snapshot/screen.zig b/src/terminal/snapshot/screen.zig
index defb9ce24..72c79a999 100644
--- a/src/terminal/snapshot/screen.zig
+++ b/src/terminal/snapshot/screen.zig
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ const PayloadEncodeError = hyperlink.EncodeError || error{
 };
 
 /// Errors possible while encoding a SCREEN and its complete PAGE sequence.
-pub const EncodeError = PayloadEncodeError || page.EncodeError || error{
+pub const EncodeError = Allocator.Error || PayloadEncodeError || page.EncodeError || error{
     /// The active area spans more pages than the SCREEN header can declare.
     PageCountOverflow,
 };
@@ -273,13 +273,14 @@ pub fn encode(
         try destination.finish();
     }
 
-    // PageList never compresses the active-boundary page or any later page.
-    // Encoding this resident suffix therefore does not restore cold history or
-    // otherwise mutate the source screen.
+    // Active pages are resident today, but use the representation-safe access
+    // path so a future PageList compression-policy change cannot turn this
+    // wire encoder's optimization invariant into undefined behavior.
     node = first;
     while (node) |current| : (node = current.next) {
-        std.debug.assert(current.pageIfResident() != null);
-        try page.encode(current.pageAssumeResident(), destination);
+        var preserved = try current.pagePreservingState(screen.alloc);
+        defer preserved.deinit();
+        try page.encode(preserved.page(), destination);
     }
 }
 
@@ -1963,6 +1964,62 @@ test "SCREEN encodes the minimal complete-page active suffix" {
     try std.testing.expectError(error.EndOfStream, restore_source.takeByte());
 }
 
+test "SCREEN encoding preserves a compressed suffix page" {
+    const testing = std.testing;
+    const compression = @import("../compress.zig");
+
+    var screen = try TerminalScreen.init(
+        testing.io,
+        testing.allocator,
+        .{ .cols = 8, .rows = 2, .max_scrollback_bytes = 0 },
+    );
+    defer screen.deinit();
+    screen.pages.getCell(.{ .active = .{} }).?.cell.* = .init('A');
+
+    // Force the active suffix into the representation that current PageList
+    // policy normally reserves for history. This models a future policy change
+    // and makes pageAssumeResident an invalid tagged-union access.
+    const node = screen.pages.getTopLeft(.active).node;
+    const resident = node.pageAssumeResident();
+    const scratch = try testing.allocator.alloc(
+        u8,
+        try compression.Page.requiredScratch(resident.memory.len),
+    );
+    defer testing.allocator.free(scratch);
+    var table: compression.lz4.HashTable = undefined;
+    const compressed = (try compression.Page.init(
+        testing.allocator,
+        resident,
+        scratch,
+        &table,
+    )).?;
+    node.data = .{ .compressed = compressed };
+    try testing.expectEqual(.compressed, node.storage());
+
+    var destination: std.Io.Writer.Allocating = .init(testing.allocator);
+    defer destination.deinit();
+    var stream: record.Writer = .init(testing.allocator, &destination.writer);
+    defer stream.deinit();
+    try encode(&screen, .primary, &stream);
+
+    // Encoding borrows or clones through PreservedPage and never changes the
+    // source node's storage representation.
+    try testing.expectEqual(.compressed, node.storage());
+
+    var source: std.Io.Reader = .fixed(destination.written());
+    var decoded = try decode(
+        &source,
+        testing.io,
+        testing.allocator,
+        .{ .cols = 8, .rows = 2, .max_scrollback_bytes = 0 },
+    );
+    defer decoded.deinit();
+    try testing.expectEqual(
+        @as(u21, 'A'),
+        decoded.screen.pages.getCell(.{ .active = .{} }).?.cell.codepoint(),
+    );
+}
+
 test "SCREEN restoration normalizes invalid cursor positions" {
     var screen = try TerminalScreen.init(
         std.testing.io,