TL;DR — Quick Summary
Gzip compresses text resources by 60–80%. Brotli compresses 15–25% better than Gzip. Both are applied server-side transparently. Enabling compression is one of the easiest, highest-impact optimizations.
What is Compression (Brotli / Gzip)?
Brotli is a modern compression algorithm by Google that uses a pre-defined dictionary of common web patterns, achieving 15–25% better compression than Gzip for text resources. Identified by the 'br' content-encoding header. Supported by all modern browsers since 2016.
Gzip is the universal web compression standard for over two decades. Compresses text by 60–80%. Remains the fallback when Brotli isn't available.
Both are applied transparently: the browser sends `Accept-Encoding: br, gzip` and the server responds with the best supported encoding. Compression is applied after minification — they're complementary, not alternatives.
History & Evolution
- •1995 — Gzip becomes the standard web compression method.
- •2015 — Google releases Brotli, optimized for web content.
- •2016 — All major browsers add Brotli support.
- •2020 — Brotli becomes the default on major CDNs (Cloudflare, AWS CloudFront).
- •2025–2026 — Brotli is the standard. Gzip remains as fallback. Zstandard (zstd) emerging as a potential future alternative.
Frequently Asked Questions
For step-by-step optimization, platform-specific fixes, code examples, and case studies, read our full guide:
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