Gzip Test

What is Gzip compression?

Gzip compression is a method used by web servers like Nginx and Apache to reduce the size of files transmitted to the client and thus reduce the bandwidth use and load a web page faster. This process is similar to zipping files on your computer to save storage space, except that Gzip compression operates in real-time and is done on the web server side, without impacting on the server load.

What are benefits of enabling Gzip on my website?

The main benefit of using Gzip compression on your website is to make your web pages load faster reducing the response time, thus your website will show content faster. As you know, there are various ranking factors to enhance the SEO of your website, and one of these is how fast your website can load its content. Using Gzip you can improve the website load time and thus improve the search engine ranking. A valid and newer alternative to Gzip is Brotli compression, developed by Google and already in use by millions of websites.

You can use Google PageSpeed Insights to test your website's page load performance.

A fast website is good for mobile devices

As mobile devices often operate with limited bandwidth, optimizing your website files' size becomes crucial for enhancing the experience of mobile users. By reducing file sizes through techniques like Gzip compression, you can significantly improve loading times and minimize data usage for mobile visitors. This optimization ensures that users on smartphones and tablets can access your content faster and efficiently, even under reduced bandwidth availability and speed (such as on 3G).

How to enable Gzip compression on Nginx

Edit your Nginx vHost configuration file and add these lines:

# Enable Gzip compression gzip on; # Specify compression level gzip_comp_level 9; # Specify which mime types should be compressed by Gzip gzip_types application/javascript application/x-javascript application/xml application/xml+rss application/x-font-ttf application/x-font-opentype application/x-font-woff application/vnd.ms-fontobject text/plain text/javascript text/html text/xml text/css image/svg+xml image/x-icon;

Then restart Nginx for the changes to take effect:

service nginx restart

How to enable Gzip compression on Apache

First make sure that Gzip module is enabled on Aapache:

a2enmod deflate

Then edit your Apache configuration file and add these lines:

<IfModule mod_deflate.c> # Enable Gzip compression SetOutputFilter DEFLATE # Specify which mime types should be compressed by Gzip AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/javascript application/x-javascript application/xml application/xml+rss application/x-font-ttf application/x-font-opentype application/x-font-woff application/vnd.ms-fontobject text/plain text/javascript text/html text/xml text/css image/svg+xml image/x-icon # Specify compression level DeflateCompressionLevel 9 </IfModule>

Then restart Apache for the changes to take effect:

service apache2 restart