On account of nonlinear refraction, arising through the relativistic mass effect, a short intense laser pulse tends to accumulate its energy around the intensity maximum, leading to pulse compression over a length Zc≈ τ0c2ω2/ ω2pv, where τ0 and ω are the pulse duration and frequency of the laser, v is the oscillatory electron velocity and ωp is the plasma frequency. When the transverse extent of the laser is finite, nonlinear self-focusing interferes strongly with this process. The self-focusing occurs in a periodic manner on a shorter scale length. However, over long lengths of pulse propagation, pulse compression could be significant.