How to Enable Gzip Compression in Nginx: 3 Easy Steps

Improved Introduction (with Keyword Inclusion)

How to enable Gzip compression in Nginx? A fast-loading website significantly improves user experience and retention, with studies showing that websites loading within seconds have a 90% higher visitor retention rate than those that take longer. In fact, if a site doesn’t load within 3–30 seconds, users are more likely to abandon it in favor of a faster alternative.

One of the most effective ways to enhance website speed is by reducing the size of files downloaded by the browser. Smaller file sizes not only lead to faster load times but also minimize bandwidth usage, ultimately saving costs. This is where Gzip compression comes in.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to enable Gzip compression in Nginx to optimize your website’s performance.

What is Gzip compression?

Gzip is a popular compression program. It makes your files smaller in size, therefore, reducing the time required to transfer a resource from the server to the browser. Using Gzip compression, you can reduce file sizes by up to 70%. Implementing Gzip compression is considered a high-priority task by the majority of site speed test tools.

How does Gzip compression work?

The Gzip compression program looks for duplicate strings within a file and replaces the second strong with a pointer to the previous string. This significantly reduces the amount of text within a file, thereby, reducing the whitespace and duplicate content. 

In regards to the server-to-browser conversation, Gzip compression works in the following manner. 

• A browser that comprehends Gzip makes a request from the webserver. 
• The server after receiving the request notices that the browser understands Gzip. Therefore, it returns the Gzip compressed version of the requested file. 
• The browser receives the file, decompresses it, and the visitor is then able to read the data. 

For browsers that do not understand the Gzip compression file, the server will simply send an uncompressed version of the file. Mostly, old browsers are not able to support Gzip compression, which is why they vary header plays a vital role in delivering the right type of content. 

How does GZip compress files?

For some files, Gzip compression works fantastic and better than others. For example, text files compress very well, whereas, JPEG or PNG files are already compressed one, rendering Gzip compression less effective or ineffective. Since compressing filling takes up server resources, it is better to enable Gzip compression in those files that will considerably be reduced in size. 

Prerequisites for Enabling Gzip Compression in Nginx

• A Linux-based Server – A system running a Linux distribution like Ubuntu, Debian, or CentOS.
• Nginx Installed – Ensure that Nginx is installed on your server. Check with nginx -v.
• Access to Nginx Configuration Files – Root or sudo access to modify /etc/nginx/nginx.conf and site-specific configs.
• Text Editor Installed – A command-line text editor like nano or vim to modify configuration files.
• Basic Understanding of Nginx Configuration – Familiarity with directives like gzip, server, and location blocks.
• Restart and Reload Permissions for Nginx – Ability to restart (sudo systemctl restart nginx) or reload (sudo systemctl reload nginx).
• sudo Privileges: You must have the SSH access set up for root or sudo user

How to enable Gzip compression in Nginx

Nginx is a very popular web server. Enabling Gzip compression in Nginx will significantly increase the delivery speed of your site. 

The following steps will teach you how to enable Gzip compression in Nginx. 

Step #1: Verify whether Gzip compression is enabled or not

Start by verifying whether Gzip compression is enabled on Nignx or not. Several online tools can help you to do this. All you have to do is, enter your domain and they’ll give you all the details.

In case, you are unsure of the type of web server you are using, open the terminal window and use the curl command shown below with your domain name.

curl -I www.YourDomainHere.com

The output you’ll receive is:

CT-152541-bash-4.2# curl -I www.example.com
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx
Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2016 12:55:33 GMT
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 5937
Connection: keep-alive
X-Accel-Version: 0.01
Last-Modified: Wed, 25 Jan 2016 13:43:03 GMT
ETag: "1730-52a50fb2994d1"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
X-Powered-By: PleskLin
MS-Author-Via: DAV

Your server is Nginx.

Step #2: Enable Gzip compression

Start by connecting to your server via the SSH and open the nginx.config file with a text editor. Now, within the http section of the nginx.conf, add or edit the following lines:

http {
 gzip on;
 gzip_disable "MSIE [1-6]\.(?!.*SV1)";
 gzip_vary on;
 gzip_types text/plain text/css text/javascript application/javascript application/x-javascript;
}

Step #3: Verify Gzip compression

Once you have added the code, restart nginx and verify whether Gzip is working properly. Use command:

service nginx restart

Several online tools can check and navigate Gzip compression. You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to make sure you’re seeing some improvements.

Conclusion

By following the steps outlined above, you have successfully enabled Gzip compression in Nginx, resulting in significantly improved page loading speeds. This enhancement not only provides a better user experience by reducing load times but also helps in conserving bandwidth. With Gzip compression effectively implemented, your website can now handle larger amounts of traffic more efficiently, ensuring that visitors stay engaged and are less likely to abandon your site due to slow load times.

Remember to periodically check and verify your Gzip settings to maintain optimal performance and continue benefiting from faster content delivery.

How to Enable Gzip Compression in Nginx: FAQs

http {
    gzip on;
    gzip_disable "MSIE [1-6]\.(?!.*SV1)";
    gzip_vary on;
    gzip_types text/plain text/css text/javascript application/javascript application/x-javascript;
}