It is known that the maximal ideals in the rings C(X) and C*(X) of continuous and bounded continuous functions on X, respectively, are in one-to-one correspondence with βX. We have shown previously that the same is true for any ring A(X) between C(X) and C*(X). Here we consider the problem for rings A(X) contained in C*(X) which are complete rings of functions (that is, they contain the constants, separate points and closed sets, and are uniformly closed). For every noninvertible f ∈ A(X), we define a z–filter ZA(f) on X which, in a sense, provides a measure of where f is ‘locally invertible’. We show that the map ZA generates a correspondence between ideals of A(X) and z–filters on X. Using this correspondence, we construct a unique compactification of X for every complete ring of functions. Each such compactification is explicitly identified as a quotient of βX. In fact, every compactification of X arises from some complete ring of functions A(X) via this construction. We also describe the intersections of the free ideals and of the free maximal ideals in complete rings of functions.