Abstract: A self-compacting lint filter for a domestic clothes washer is mounted on a rotatable and vertically reciprocal agitator for movement therewith. The filter is in the form of an elongated mesh bag which extends axially into the hollow of the agitator upstanding centerpost. Re-circulating wash water is conveyed to a nozzle which directs the flow with its entrained lint through the mesh bag. The vertical reciprocation of the agitator provides relative motion between the flow and the bag filtering lint from the water while the shaking of the bag causes the bag to fold upon itself to self-clean collected lint from the sidewall of the bag whereby the lint is aggregated into an easily removable wad at the bottom of the bag.