Do you want to enable GZIP com­pres­sion in Word­Press? GZIP com­pres­sion makes your web­site faster by com­press­ing the data and deliv­er­ing it to the user’s browsers much quickly. 

A faster web­site improves user expe­ri­ence and brings in more sales and con­ver­sions for your business. 

In this arti­cle, we’ll show you exact­ly how to eas­i­ly enable GZIP com­pres­sion in WordPress. 

What is GZIP Compression?

GZIP com­pres­sion is a tech­nol­o­gy that com­press­es data files before it is sent to users’ browsers. This reduces the file down­load time which makes your web­site faster. 

Once the com­pressed data arrives, all mod­ern browsers auto­mat­i­cal­ly unzip the com­pressed files and dis­play them. GZIP com­pres­sion doesn’t change how your web­site looks or functions.

It just makes your web­site load faster.

GZIP is sup­port­ed by all pop­u­lar web browsers, serv­er soft­ware, and all best Word­Press host­ing companies. 

How does GZIP com­pres­sion work?

Gzip com­pres­sion uses com­pres­sion algo­rithms that work on web­site files like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more. When a user requests a page from your web­site, the algo­rithm sends the out­put back in a com­pressed format. 

Depend­ing on data size, the com­pres­sion can reduce file sizes by up to 70%. 

This is why most web­site speed test tools like Google Page­speed Insights high­ly rec­om­mend enabling gzip com­pres­sion. These tools will also show a warn­ing if gzip com­pres­sion is not enabled onn your website. 

Note: By default, Gzip com­pres­sion does not com­press images or videos. For that you’ll need to opti­mize images for web on your Word­Press site. 

Why You Need to Enable GZIP Compression in WordPress?

Plain raw data takes longer to down­load which affects your page load speed. If sev­er­al users arrive at the same time, then it will fur­ther slow down your Word­Press web­site.

Using GZIP com­pres­sion allows you to effi­cient­ly trans­fer data, boost page load times, and reduce the load on your web­site host­ing. It is an essen­tial step in improv­ing your web­site speed and per­for­mance.

Now, you might think that GZIP sounds very tech­ni­cal and com­pli­cat­ed. How­ev­er, there are many Word­Press plu­g­ins that make it super easy to add GZIP com­pres­sion on your Word­Press website.

In some cas­es, you may even have GZIP already enabled by your Word­Press host­ing company. 

Blue­host an offi­cial­ly rec­om­mend­ed Word­Press host­ing provider auto­mat­i­cal­ly enables GZIP com­pres­sion on all new Word­Press sites. 

To test if GZIP is enabled on your site, sim­ply go to this GZIP tester and enter the URL of your site. If GZIP is work­ing on your site, you will see a ‘GZIP Is Enabled’ message.

If you need to add GZIP com­pres­sion by your­self, then you can use any of the fol­low­ing meth­ods to do so: 

• Enabling GZIP with WP Rock­et (Rec­om­mend­ed)
• Enabling GZIP with WP Super Cache
• Enabling GZIP with W3 Total Cache

Enabling GZIP Compression with WPRocket

WP Rock­et is the best caching plu­g­in for Word­Press. It is incred­i­bly easy to use and turns on all the essen­tial speed opti­miza­tion fea­tures out of the box, includ­ing GZIP compression. 

First, you need to install and acti­vate the WP Rock­et plu­g­in. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a Word­Press plu­g­in.

Upon acti­va­tion, your license key should be auto­mat­i­cal­ly acti­vat­ed for you. You can check this by going to the Set­tings » WP Rock­et page in your Word­Press admin. 

You should see a mes­sage let­ting you know that WP Rock­et is active and working.

WP Rock­et auto­mat­i­cal­ly enables GZIP com­pres­sion for you if you’re using an Apache serv­er. Most Word­Press web host­ing providers use Apache for their servers. You don’t need to take any addi­tion­al steps.

For a break­down of all WP Rock­et fea­tures, check out our guide on installing and set­ting up WPRock­et.

Enabling GZIP Compression with WP Super Cache

WP Super Cache is a free Word­Press caching plu­g­in. It is also a great way to enable GZIP com­pres­sion on your Word­Press site.

First, you need to install and acti­vate the WP Super Cache plu­g­in. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a Word­Press plu­g­in.

Upon acti­va­tion, go to the Set­tings » WP Super Cache page » Advanced in your Word­Press dash­board. Then, sim­ply check the box ‘Com­press pages so they’re served more quick­ly to vis­i­tors’ box. 

You then need to scroll down the page and click the ‘Update Sta­tus’ but­ton to save your changes. WP Super Cache will now enable gZip com­pres­sion on your Word­Press website. 

Enabling GZIP Compression with W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is anoth­er great Word­Press caching plu­g­in. It’s not quite so begin­ner-friend­ly as WP Rock­et, but there’s a free ver­sion. This makes it a good option if the costs of cre­at­ing a Word­Press site are adding up.

First, you need to install and acti­vate the W3 Total Cache plu­g­in. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a Word­Press plu­g­in.

Upon acti­va­tion, GZIP com­pres­sion will be auto­mat­i­cal­ly enabled on your web­site. You can check or change this by going to the Per­for­mance » Gen­er­al Set­tings page in your Word­Press dashboard.

Scroll down this page to Brows­er Cache and make sure there is a check in the Enable box:

Don’t for­get to click the ‘Save all changes’ but­ton if you make any changes.

Checking that GZIP is Enabled on Your Website

After enabling GZIP, you may notice that your web­site pages load a bit faster. How­ev­er, if you want to check that GZIP is run­ning, you can sim­ply use a GZIP check­er tool.

We hope this arti­cle helped you learn how to enable GZIP com­pres­sion in Word­Press. You may also want to see our ulti­mate guide to speed­ing up Word­Press, and check out our 27 proven tips on how to increase your web­site traf­fic.

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The post How to Enable GZIP Com­pres­sion in Word­Press (3 Ways) appeared first on WPBe­gin­ner.