diff --git a/r/NAMESPACE b/r/NAMESPACE
index 936d9170a2d..1060bddf8ea 100644
--- a/r/NAMESPACE
+++ b/r/NAMESPACE
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ export(Buffer)
 export(BufferOutputStream)
 export(BufferReader)
 export(ChunkedArray)
+export(Codec)
 export(CompressedInputStream)
 export(CompressedOutputStream)
 export(CompressionType)
@@ -75,7 +76,6 @@ export(boolean)
 export(buffer)
 export(cast_options)
 export(chunked_array)
-export(compression_codec)
 export(contains)
 export(csv_convert_options)
 export(csv_parse_options)
diff --git a/r/R/compression.R b/r/R/compression.R
index a58defe640a..2b999589d05 100644
--- a/r/R/compression.R
+++ b/r/R/compression.R
@@ -19,16 +19,30 @@
 #' @include arrow-package.R
 #' @include io.R
 
-Codec <- R6Class("Codec", inherit = Object)
-
-#' codec
-#'
-#' @param type type of codec
-#'
+#' @title Compression Codec class
+#' @usage NULL
+#' @format NULL
+#' @docType class
+#' @description Codecs allow you to create [compressed input and output
+#' streams][compression].
+#' @section Factory:
+#' The `Codec$create()` factory method takes the following argument:
+#' * `type`: string name of the compression method. See [CompressionType] for
+#'    a list of possible values. `type` may be upper- or lower-cased. Support
+#'    for compression methods depends on build-time flags for the C++ library.
+#'    Most builds support at least "gzip" and "snappy".
+#' @rdname Codec
+#' @name Codec
 #' @export
-compression_codec <- function(type = "GZIP") {
-  type <- CompressionType[[match.arg(type, names(CompressionType))]]
-  unique_ptr(Codec, util___Codec__Create(type))
+Codec <- R6Class("Codec", inherit = Object)
+Codec$create <- function(type = "gzip") {
+  if (is.character(type)) {
+    type <- unique_ptr(Codec, util___Codec__Create(
+      CompressionType[[match.arg(toupper(type), names(CompressionType))]]
+    ))
+  }
+  assert_is(type, "Codec")
+  type
 }
 
 #' @title Compressed stream classes
@@ -39,7 +53,7 @@ compression_codec <- function(type = "GZIP") {
 #' @usage NULL
 #' @format NULL
 #' @description `CompressedInputStream` and `CompressedOutputStream`
-#' allow you to apply a [compression_codec()] to an
+#' allow you to apply a compression [Codec] to an
 #' input or output stream.
 #'
 #' @section Factory:
@@ -56,11 +70,8 @@ compression_codec <- function(type = "GZIP") {
 #' @export
 #' @include arrow-package.R
 CompressedOutputStream <- R6Class("CompressedOutputStream", inherit = OutputStream)
-CompressedOutputStream$create <- function(stream, codec = compression_codec()){
-  if (.Platform$OS.type == "windows") {
-    stop("'CompressedOutputStream' is unsupported in Windows.")
-  }
-  assert_is(codec, "Codec")
+CompressedOutputStream$create <- function(stream, codec = "gzip"){
+  codec <- Codec$create(codec)
   if (is.character(stream)) {
     stream <- FileOutputStream$create(stream)
   }
@@ -73,9 +84,8 @@ CompressedOutputStream$create <- function(stream, codec = compression_codec()){
 #' @format NULL
 #' @export
 CompressedInputStream <- R6Class("CompressedInputStream", inherit = InputStream)
-CompressedInputStream$create <- function(stream, codec = compression_codec()){
-  # TODO (npr): why would CompressedInputStream work on Windows if CompressedOutputStream doesn't? (and is it still the case that it does not?)
-  assert_is(codec, "Codec")
+CompressedInputStream$create <- function(stream, codec = "gzip"){
+  codec <- Codec$create(codec)
   if (is.character(stream)) {
     stream <- ReadableFile$create(stream)
   }
diff --git a/r/data-raw/codegen.R b/r/data-raw/codegen.R
index ba5d0cbdf9d..b90f8543aa2 100644
--- a/r/data-raw/codegen.R
+++ b/r/data-raw/codegen.R
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ suppressPackageStartupMessages({
   library(dplyr)
   library(purrr)
   library(glue)
+  library(vctrs)
 })
 
 if (packageVersion("decor") < '0.0.0.9001') {
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ decorations <- cpp_decorations() %>%
   # more concisely
   # rap(            ~ decor:::parse_cpp_function(context))
   mutate(functions = map(context, decor:::parse_cpp_function)) %>%
-  { bind_cols(., bind_rows(pull(., functions))) } %>%
+  { vec_cbind(., vec_rbind(!!!pull(., functions))) } %>%
   select(-functions)
 
 message(glue("*** > {n} functions decorated with [[arrow::export]]", n = nrow(decorations)))
diff --git a/r/man/Codec.Rd b/r/man/Codec.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..548c6b89c15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/r/man/Codec.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/compression.R
+\docType{class}
+\name{Codec}
+\alias{Codec}
+\title{Compression Codec class}
+\description{
+Codecs allow you to create \link[=compression]{compressed input and output streams}.
+}
+\section{Factory}{
+
+The \code{Codec$create()} factory method takes the following argument:
+\itemize{
+\item \code{type}: string name of the compression method. See \link{CompressionType} for
+a list of possible values. \code{type} may be upper- or lower-cased. Support
+for compression methods depends on build-time flags for the C++ library.
+Most builds support at least "gzip" and "snappy".
+}
+}
+
+\keyword{datasets}
diff --git a/r/man/compression.Rd b/r/man/compression.Rd
index e9d0ca5d493..16130f8321e 100644
--- a/r/man/compression.Rd
+++ b/r/man/compression.Rd
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 \title{Compressed stream classes}
 \description{
 \code{CompressedInputStream} and \code{CompressedOutputStream}
-allow you to apply a \code{\link[=compression_codec]{compression_codec()}} to an
+allow you to apply a compression \link{Codec} to an
 input or output stream.
 }
 \section{Factory}{
diff --git a/r/man/compression_codec.Rd b/r/man/compression_codec.Rd
deleted file mode 100644
index a7db8ab0deb..00000000000
--- a/r/man/compression_codec.Rd
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
-% Please edit documentation in R/compression.R
-\name{compression_codec}
-\alias{compression_codec}
-\title{codec}
-\usage{
-compression_codec(type = "GZIP")
-}
-\arguments{
-\item{type}{type of codec}
-}
-\description{
-codec
-}
diff --git a/r/tests/testthat/helper-arrow.R b/r/tests/testthat/helper-arrow.R
index 4882036bfbf..c330f51664c 100644
--- a/r/tests/testthat/helper-arrow.R
+++ b/r/tests/testthat/helper-arrow.R
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 # under the License.
 
 # Wrap testthat::test_that with a check for the C++ library
-options(..skip.tests = !arrow::arrow_available())
+options(..skip.tests = !arrow:::arrow_available())
 
 test_that <- function(what, code) {
   testthat::test_that(what, {
diff --git a/r/tests/testthat/test-compressed.R b/r/tests/testthat/test-compressed.R
index 008f974215b..8bf1092616e 100644
--- a/r/tests/testthat/test-compressed.R
+++ b/r/tests/testthat/test-compressed.R
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@
 context("Compressed.*Stream")
 
 test_that("can write Buffer to CompressedOutputStream and read back in CompressedInputStream", {
-  skip_on_os("windows")
-
   buf <- buffer(as.raw(sample(0:255, size = 1024, replace = TRUE)))
 
   tf1 <- tempfile()