The compression behavior of crystalline and amorphous germania holds considerable interest as an analog for silica and for understanding the structural response of AX 2 compounds generally. In this work, the α-PbO 2 -type and 3-type polymorphs of GeO 2 were investigated under high pressure using angle-dispersive synchrotron x-ray diffraction in the laser-heated diamond anvil cell. Theoretical calculations based on density functional theory were also performed. The experimental pressure-volume data were fitted to 3 rd order Birch-Murnaghan equations of state. The fit parameters for the α-PbO 2 -type are: V 0 = 53.8 (2) Å 3 , K 0T = 293 (7) GPa with fixed 4; where V, K T , and are the volume, isothermal bulk modulus, and pressure derivative of the bulk modulus and the subscript 0 refers to ambient conditions. The corresponding parameters for the 3-type phase is: V 0 = 50.3 (3) Å 3 , K 0T = 342 (12) GPa with fixed 4. The theoretical calculations are in good agreement with the experimental results with slight underestimation and overestimation of V 0 and K 0T respectively. A theoretical Hugoniot was calculated from our data and compared to shock equation of state data for vitreous and rutile-type GeO 2 . The high-pressure phase observed on the Hugoniot is most consistent with either the α-PbO 2 -type or CaCl 2 -type phase. Finally, we have compared our data on crystalline germania with existing studies on the corresponding phases of SiO 2 to better understand the effects of cation substitution on phase transformations and equations of state in Group 14 dioxides.