The combined impact of high-hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and ultrasound (US) on the cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside (C3R), quercetin-3-O-rutinoside (Q3R), and volatile compounds from fig ( Ficus carica ) paste was investigated. The HHP increased the content of C3R and Q3R, from 70 to 133 mg/kg fw and 31 to 44 mg/kg fw, respectively. The combination of HHP and US further enhanced the extraction of these bioactive compounds. Specifically, processing fig paste with US for 5 min at 40 °C yielded approximately 250 mg of C3R/kg fw and 45 mg of Q3R/kg fw, after 20 min. More than 25 volatile compounds were identified, with benzaldehyde being the predominant compound, accounting > 75%. Trace amounts of hydroxymethylfurfural (< 0.36 mg/100 g fw) were detected in HHP-processed fig paste. The application of HHP at mild temperatures and short time, combined with US, effectively promotes the content of bioactive compounds present in fig paste without adversely affecting the fruit's volatile compounds., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10068-023-01410-1., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interestThe authors declare that they have not any conflict of interest., (© The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)