© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is widely used across the physical, chemical, and biological sciences. A core component of NMR studies is multidimensional experiments, which enable correlation of properties from one or more NMR-active nuclei. In high-resolution biomolecular NMR, common nuclei are1H,15N, and13C, and triple resonance experiments using these three nuclei form the backbone of NMR structural studies. In other fields, a range of other nuclei may be used. Multidimensional NMR experiments provide unparalleled information content, but this comes at the price of long experiment times required to achieve the necessary resolution and sensitivity. Non-uniform sampling (NUS) techniques to reduce the required data sampling have existed for many decades. Recently, such techniques have received heightened interest due to the development of compressed sensing (CS) methods for reconstructing spectra from such NUS datasets. When applied jointly, these methods provide a powerful approach to dramatically improve the resolution of spectra per time unit and under suitable conditions can also lead to signal-to-noise ratio improvements. In this review, we explore the basis of NUS approaches, the fundamental features of NUS reconstruction using CS and applications based on CS approaches including the benefits of expanding the repertoire of biomolecular NMR experiments into higher dimensions. We discuss some of the recent algorithms and software packages and provide practical tips for recording and processing NUS data by CS.