GZIP compression is a standard method to compress files for faster webpage loading.
When a visitor visits the site, the server is called to deliver the requested files. If these files are larger in the size, it causes a higher load time.
Bigger the file, longer it takes to display the result to the visitor.
With GZIP compression, the files are compressed before sending them to the browser, resulting in reducing the load time.
According to GTmetrix, GZIP compression reduces the size of pages and style sheets by up to 70%! And thus, optimizing your webpages by enabling GZIP compression should be your priority if you want to outrank the competitors and offer a smooth user experience. And for Magento 2 and Magento stores, it is not an option to ignore performance optimization.
Ecommerce platform must be optimized for quick shopping owing to the cutthroat competition. And as a store owner, you can just start with the below method to enable GZIP compression for Magento stores!
Method To Enable GZIP Compression for Magento:
Make sure mod_deflate is on in Apache. You can check by creating an info.php file and calling phpinfo();. It will output server PHP / Apache specs in the browser. Don’t forget to remove it when you’re done!
Then add the following to your htaccess file
<IfModule mod_php5.c>
## enable resulting html compression
php_flag zlib.output_compression on
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_php7.c>
## enable resulting html compression
php_flag zlib.output_compression on
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
## Force compression for mangled `Accept-Encoding` request headers
<IfModule mod_setenvif.c>
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
SetEnvIfNoCase ^(Accept-EncodXng|X-cept-Encoding|X{15}|~{15}|-{15})$ ^((gzip|deflate)\s*,?\s*)+|[X~-]{4,13}$ HAVE_Accept-Encoding
RequestHeader append Accept-Encoding "gzip,deflate" env=HAVE_Accept-Encoding
</IfModule>
</IfModule>
## Compress all output labeled with one of the following media types.
<IfModule mod_filter.c>
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE "application/atom+xml" \
"application/javascript" \
"application/json" \
"application/ld+json" \
"application/manifest+json" \
"application/rdf+xml" \
"application/rss+xml" \
"application/schema+json" \
"application/vnd.geo+json" \
"application/vnd.ms-fontobject" \
"application/x-font-ttf" \
"application/x-javascript" \
"application/x-web-app-manifest+json" \
"application/xhtml+xml" \
"application/xml" \
"font/eot" \
"font/opentype" \
"image/bmp" \
"image/svg+xml" \
"image/vnd.microsoft.icon" \
"image/x-icon" \
"text/cache-manifest" \
"text/css" \
"text/html" \
"text/javascript" \
"text/plain" \
"text/vcard" \
"text/vnd.rim.location.xloc" \
"text/vtt" \
"text/x-component" \
"text/x-cross-domain-policy" \
"text/xml"
</IfModule>
## Map the following filename extensions to the specified
## encoding type in order to make Apache serve the file types
## with the appropriate `Content-Encoding` response header
## (do note that this will NOT make Apache compress them!).
<IfModule mod_mime.c>
AddEncoding gzip svgz
</IfModule>
</IfModule>
That’s it.
If you are looking for other ways to optimize the Magento 2 store performance, follow the checklist at How do I Speed Up Magento 2
Boost the Magento 2 store speed and enjoy the top rank because site speed is surely one of the important factors to decide the same for the search engines!
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Thanks.
