Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Uganda.
Vagrant to Zambia.
Highly discontinuous: south-western Senegal, coastal Guinea-Bissau, south-eastern Guinea, northern Sierra Leone, northern Liberia, western and eastern Ivory Coast, southern Ghana east to south-western Nigeria (inland to Zaria), central and south-eastern Cameroon, central-western Gabon, northern and southern PRCongo, south-western Central African Republic, southern and south-eastern Sudan, south-western Ethiopia, Uganda (except east), also south-western and north-eastern DRCongo, extreme north-west, northern and eastern Angola, western Rwanda, north-western Burundi, north-western Tanzania (bordering L Victoria) and western Kenya.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Compact Weaver (Ploceus superciliosus) [XC609504]
by Bram Piot from Gwarinpa Estate, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria (?)
Compact Weaver (Ploceus) [XC610356]
by Sun Madakan from Gwarinpa Estate, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria (call, song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Often placed in genus Ploceus, and then aligned with Asian Asian Golden Weaver (Ploceus hypoxanthus), but may be closer to other weaver genera. Peculiar nest construction shared only with Grosbeak Weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons), and has been suggested that the two are congeneric. DNA studies reveal that Amblyospiza differs from other ploceines at approximately tribal level, and present species possibly closest to that.