Do I need to enable Gzip compression on my Web60 site?

No. Gzip and Brotli compression are enabled by default on all Web60 servers. There is nothing you need to install or configure.

Does compression work on images?

No. Image formats like JPEG, PNG, and WebP are already compressed. Applying Gzip to them would not reduce their size and could actually make files slightly larger. Compression on Web60 applies to text-based files only.

What is the difference between Gzip and Brotli?

Both compress text files to reduce their size. Brotli typically achieves 15 to 20 percent better compression than Gzip. Web60 servers use Brotli when the visitor's browser supports it and fall back to Gzip for older browsers.

How Gzip compression works on Web60

When someone visits your website, the server sends files to their browser — HTML for the page structure, CSS for the styling, and JavaScript for interactive features. Compression shrinks these files before they are sent, so they arrive faster. This guide explains how it works on Web60.

What is Gzip compression?

Gzip is a method of compressing text-based files. It works by finding repeated patterns in the data and replacing them with shorter references. The result is a much smaller file that the browser can quickly decompress and use.

For a typical web page, Gzip reduces the size of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files by 60 to 80 percent. A 100 KB CSS file might be sent as just 20 to 30 KB over the network.

What is Brotli compression?

Brotli is a newer compression method developed by Google. It achieves better compression ratios than Gzip — typically 15 to 20 percent smaller files — while being just as fast to decompress in the browser.

Web60 servers support both Gzip and Brotli. When a visitor's browser supports Brotli (all modern browsers do), the server uses it automatically. For older browsers that only support Gzip, the server falls back to Gzip.

What gets compressed

Compression applies to text-based file types:

HTML — the page content and structure
CSS — the styling and layout rules
JavaScript — interactive features and scripts
SVG — vector graphics used for icons and illustrations
JSON and XML — data files used by some plugins and themes

What does not get compressed

Image files like JPEG, PNG, WebP, and GIF are already compressed formats. Applying Gzip on top of them would not reduce their size meaningfully and could even make them marginally larger. The same applies to video files and fonts that use compressed formats.

If you want to reduce image file sizes, see our guide on optimising images for a faster website.

How to verify compression is working

You can check that compression is active using your browser's built-in developer tools:

Open your website in Chrome or Firefox.
Press F12 to open Developer Tools.
Click the Network tab.
Reload the page.
Click on any HTML, CSS, or JS file in the list.
Look at the Response Headers section.
Find the Content-Encoding header. It will show either br (Brotli) or gzip.

If you see Content-Encoding: br or Content-Encoding: gzip, compression is working correctly.

Do you need to do anything?

No. Compression is a server-level setting that is active by default on all Web60 sites. There is nothing to install, enable, or configure. It works automatically for every page and every visitor.