Abstract: A rotary compressor of the low operational noise type is disclosed. This compressor consists of a casing, a rotating shaft set within the casing, a roller eccentrically fixed to the rotating shaft and eccentrically, rotatably set within a cylinder so as to form a variable suction chamber and a variable compression chamber within the cylinder. The compressor also has a bypass passage, which is formed on the internal surface of the cylinder at a position around the refrigerant exhaust stroke initiating point, thus allowing the compression and exhaust chambers to communicate with each other through the bypass passage and allowing highly compressed refrigerant to be fed from the compression chamber back into the suction chamber at the initial stage of each exhaust stroke.