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How can I enable gzip compression on a Webflow site to improve page load speed? I have been trying to optimize my site's performance and my speed test results indicate that gzip compression is needed. Thank you.

TL;DR
  • Webflow auto-enables gzip/Brotli compression via AWS Cloudfront for all hosted sites—no manual setup needed.
  • Use tools like GTmetrix or PageSpeed Insights to confirm, ensuring you're testing the live domain and not third-party assets.
  • If you export and host elsewhere, enable compression manually via server configuration.
  • Optimize performance further with compressed images, lazy loading, fewer third-party scripts, and a streamlined layout.

Webflow automatically enables gzip compression for all hosted sites, so you don’t need to manually configure it. However, there are important clarifications and additional steps you can take to fully optimize your site’s performance.

1. Gzip Compression Is Enabled by Default

  • All assets hosted on Webflow (HTML, CSS, JS, etc.) are served via AWS Cloudfront, which automatically applies gzip or Brotli compression based on the visitor’s browser.
  • You can confirm this by testing your site using an HTTP header checker tool—look for the Content-Encoding: gzip or br header in the server response.

2. Verify Compression Using Online Tools

  • Use tools like GTmetrix, WebPageTest, or Google PageSpeed Insights.
  • If the tool still flags compression as missing, verify:
  • You’re testing your live Webflow domain (e.g. www.yoursite.com) and not a staging or export environment.
  • The test isn’t falsely flagging third-party scripts or assets not hosted on Webflow.

3. Consider Exported Sites

  • If you’ve exported your Webflow site and host elsewhere, gzip compression must be enabled on your external server yourself.
  • For Apache, configure in .htaccess.
  • For NGINX, update nginx.conf.
  • Compression is no longer managed by Webflow in this case.

4. Optimize Other Performance Factors

Even with gzip enabled, other performance issues may impact load speed:

  • Compress images using WebP or tools like TinyPNG before uploading to Webflow.
  • Use lazy loading for images and iframes (loading="lazy" is applied automatically for Webflow images).
  • Minimize the use of third-party scripts, which may not be compressed or optimized.
  • Structure your layout to reduce DOM complexity and JavaScript execution time.

Summary

Gzip compression is already enabled automatically on all published Webflow-hosted sites via Cloudfront CDN. If performance tools still flag compression, double-check external assets or confirm the test is evaluating your live domain correctly.

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