How to implement Brotli and Gzip compression for faster load times

Website speed is a crucial factor in user experience and SEO. Slow-loading pages lead to higher bounce rates, lower engagement, and reduced conversion rates. Implementing Brotli and Gzip compression reduces file sizes, speeds up load times, and improves overall website performance by optimizing how files are delivered to users.

Compression helps:

• Decrease page load times – Smaller files mean faster delivery, improving browsing experience.
• Reduce bandwidth consumption – Less data transfer lowers hosting costs and improves accessibility for users on slow or limited connections.
• Improve SEO rankings – Google considers page speed a ranking factor, meaning better performance can enhance visibility.
• Enhance user experience – Faster websites lead to better engagement, retention, and a lower likelihood of users abandoning pages.
• Support mobile performance – With mobile browsing dominating web traffic, compression ensures a smooth experience even on lower-speed networks.

Step 1: Understand Brotli and Gzip compression

What is Gzip compression?

Gzip is one of the oldest and most widely used compression algorithms, reducing the size of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other text-based files before they are sent to the browser. Nearly all web servers and browsers support Gzip, making it a reliable choice for improving performance.

What is Brotli compression?

Brotli, developed by Google, is a more modern and efficient compression algorithm than Gzip. It achieves higher compression rates, meaning even smaller file sizes and faster load times. Brotli is particularly effective for compressing repetitive text-based content, making it an excellent choice for web assets. However, while most modern browsers support Brotli, older browsers may not.

Step 2: Enable compression on your web server

Depending on your hosting environment, you can enable Brotli and Gzip compression via server configurations or content delivery networks (CDNs).

For Apache servers:

1. Enable Gzip: Add the following lines to your .htaccess file:

   <IfModule mod_deflate.c>
       AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html text/plain text/xml
       AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css text/javascript application/javascript
       AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/json application/xml
   </IfModule>
   

2. Enable Brotli (if supported): Add this to .htaccess:

   <IfModule mod_brotli.c>
       AddOutputFilterByType BROTLI_COMPRESS text/html text/plain text/xml
       AddOutputFilterByType BROTLI_COMPRESS text/css text/javascript application/javascript
       AddOutputFilterByType BROTLI_COMPRESS application/json application/xml
   </IfModule>
   

For Nginx servers:

1. Enable Gzip: Add the following to your Nginx configuration file (nginx.conf):

   gzip on;
   gzip_types text/html text/plain text/css text/javascript application/javascript application/json application/xml;
   gzip_vary on;
   

2. Enable Brotli: If Brotli is installed, add:

   brotli on;
   brotli_types text/html text/plain text/css text/javascript application/javascript application/json application/xml;
   brotli_comp_level 6;
   

   Restart Nginx for changes to take effect: sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 3: Enable compression via a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Many CDNs support Brotli and Gzip compression out of the box, offering an easy way to optimize performance without modifying your server.

CDNs that support Brotli and Gzip:

• Cloudflare – Automatically compresses files with Brotli and Gzip when enabled in settings.
• Fastly – Supports Brotli and Gzip with configurable settings.
• Akamai – Offers advanced compression customization.
• BunnyCDN – Lightweight and affordable option with compression support.

Step 4: Verify compression is working

After enabling Brotli and Gzip, check if your server is serving compressed content.

How to test compression:

• Online tools – Use Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Check Gzip Compression to confirm compression is active.
• Browser developer tools – Open DevTools in Chrome or Firefox (F12 or Ctrl + Shift + I), go to the Network tab, and check the Content-Encoding response header.
• Curl command (for command line users):

  curl -H "Accept-Encoding: br,gzip" -I https://yourwebsite.com
  

  If Brotli or Gzip is enabled, you should see content-encoding: br or content-encoding: gzip in the response headers.

Step 5: Optimize compression settings

To balance compression efficiency and server performance, fine-tune settings based on your site’s needs.

Best practices for Brotli and Gzip optimization:

• Use Brotli where possible – Brotli offers better compression rates than Gzip for most file types.
• Adjust compression levels – Brotli supports levels from 1 (fastest) to 11 (maximum compression). A recommended default is level 6.
• Exclude already compressed files – Avoid compressing .jpg, .png, .mp4, .zip, and other pre-compressed assets.
• Enable caching with compression – Use cache control headers to store compressed files for repeat visitors.
• Regularly test performance – Periodically analyze page speed and compression effectiveness using various tools.
• Minify assets before compression – Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files before they are compressed for even better performance.

Final thoughts

Implementing Brotli and Gzip compression is a simple yet highly effective way to improve website speed, enhance user experience, and reduce bandwidth usage. By enabling compression on your server or CDN, verifying its effectiveness, and optimizing settings, you can significantly improve your website’s load times and overall performance.