Compressed orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (ofdm) symbols in a wireless communication system

A method for generating a physical layer (PHY) data unit for transmission via a communication channel, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a communication device, a set of information bits to be included in a data portion of the PHY data unit;
• determining, at the communication device, a boundary within a last orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, the last OFDM symbol among one or more OFDM symbols of the data portion of the PHY data unit;
• adding, at the communication device, a number of pre-encoder padding bits to the set of information bits to generate a set of padded information bits, wherein the number of pre-encoder padding bits is determined such that the set of padded information bits, after being encoded, fill the one or more OFDM symbols up to the boundary within the last OFDM symbol;
• encoding, at the communication device, the set of padded information bits to generate a set of coded bits;
• generating, at the communication device, a PHY preamble to include a subfield that indicates the boundary;
• generating, at the communication device, the one or more OFDM symbols to include (i) the set of coded information bits in the one or more OFDM symbols up to the boundary within the last OFDM symbol to allow a receiving device to stop decoding the one or more OFDM symbols at the boundary, and (ii) post-encoder padding bits in the last OFDM symbol following the boundary;
• and
• generating, at the communication device, the PHY data unit to include the PHY preamble and the one or more OFDM symbols of the data portion.