We prove that if ω 1 and ω 2 are moderate weights and B is a suitable (quasi-)Banach function space, then a necessary and sufficient condition for the embedding i :between two modulation spaces to be compact is that the quotient ω 2 /ω 1 vanishes at infinity. Moreover we show, that the boundedness of ω 2 /ω 1 a necessary and sufficient condition for the previous embedding to be continuous. Germany