Cracking at the fold is a quality defect sometimes observed in coated paper and board. Although tensile and compressive stresses occur during folding, test methods to measure the compressive strength of a coating have not been available. Our objective was to develop a method to measure the compressive strength of a coating layer and to investigate how different mineral coatings behave under compression. We used the short-span compressive strength test (SCT) to measure the in-plane compressive strength of a free coating layer. Unsupported free coating films were prepared for the measurements. Results indicate that the SCT method was suitable for measuring the in-plane compressive strength of a coating layer. Coating color formulations containing different kaolin and calcium carbonate minerals were used to study the effect of pigment particles’ shape on the compressive and tensile strengths of coatings. Latices having two different glass transition temperatures were used. Results showed that pigment particle shape influenced the strength of a coating layer. Platy clay gave better strength than spherical or needle-shaped carbonate pigments. Compressive and tensile strength decreased as a function of the amount of calcium carbonate in the coating color, particularly with precipitated calcium carbonate. We also assessed the influence of styrene-butadiene binder on the compressive strength of the coating layer, which increased with the binder level. The compressive strength of the coating layer was about three times the tensile strength.