.qm files exported with -compress option does not dereference. 

Eg : 

eng_Latn_US.ts has

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE TS>
<TS version="2.1" language="eng_Latn_US">
<context>
<name></name>
<message id="MSG_ID">
<source></source>
<translation>Hello World</translation>
</message>
</context>
</TS>

Export this with:

lrelease -idbased -compress eng_Latn_US.ts

Use this in the project :

qtTrId("MSG_ID") --> Returns "MSG_ID"

Export this with 

lrelease -idbased eng_Latn_US.ts

Use this in the project :

qtTrId("MSG_ID") --> Returns "Hello World"