Compression waves propagating through molten metals are contributed to degassing, accelerating reaction rate,removing exclusions from molten metals and refining solidification structures during metallurgical processing of ma-terials. In the present study, two electromagnetic methods are proposed to generate intense compression wavesdirectly in liquid metals. One is the simultaneous imposition of a high frequency electrical current field and a staticmagnetic field; the other is that of a high frequency magnetic field and a static magnetic field. A mathematical modelbased on compressible fluid dynamics and electromagnetic fields theory has been developed to derive pressure distri-butions of the generated waves in a metal. It shows that the intensity of compression waves is proportional to thatof the high frequency electromagnetic force. And the frequency is the same as that of the imposed electromagneticforce. On the basis of theoretical analyses, pressure change in liquid gallium was examined by a pressure transducerunder various conditions. The observed results approximately agreed with the predictions derived from the theoreticalanalyses and calculations. Moreover, the effect of the generated waves on improvement of solidification structureswas also examined. It shows that the generated compression waves can refine solidification structures when they wereapplied to solidification process of Sn-Pb alloy. This study indicates a new method to generate compression wavesby imposing high frequency electromagnetic force locally on molten metals and this kind of compression waves canprobably overcome the difficulties when waves are excited by mechanical vibration in high temperature environments.