GZIP compression makes it possible to compress the web files up to 70 to 80%. These help in creating a smaller version of the file by reducing its size to 80% to send to the browser. Then the browser will decompress this file and will serve the original file to the users. It enhances the speed of the processing. Because the compressed file is smaller in size as compared to the original file, therefore, the user can load the website in less time, enhancing the user’s experience.
What exactly is Gzip?
Gzip is a data compression algorithm that helps compress and decompress files faster. It can compress almost any type of file from the files that contain plain text to the files that contain images with the plain text. The algorithm is fast enough to compress and decompress the data on the fly.
How does the GZIP compression test works?
The GZIP compression test is used to check whether the website has GZIP enabled by connecting to the domain. This will also let you know the size of the original file and the size of the compressed file so you can know how much you have compressed the file. So, to optimize your website so it can load faster at the user’s browser, GZIP compression is an ideal option for you.
How can you optimize your site with GZIP compression?
Compression is the best way to save the bandwidth and to speed up your site. Nowadays, users have become tech-savvy; they would not wait for your site to load; they will directly jump to the other one. The vast majority of the websites are using some kind of compression, but the most common is GZIP compression.
When it is applied to images and text, it compresses the file. It reduces the bandwidth and the size of the file remarkably, so the website becomes more responsive to the user.
In case if your website has lots of text and images, then GZIP compression is an ideal option for you. You need to install the GZIP on your system to achieve higher compression and to serve better to your website users.
How to add Gzip to your website?
There are two ways to add the Gzip to your website, one is statically, and the second is dynamical. Dynamic compression compresses the file when a user requests while the static compression compresses each file in advance. In dynamic compression, the file frequently changes as per the need of the user, while in the static compression, files do not frequently change because they only need to be compressed at once. Static compression is easier than the dynamic, but to give a better user experience to your customers, a dynamic will work better.
Using Gzip on the web
Web servers are used to reduce the total amount of the data transferred to the visitors of the website. When a web browser supports Gzip, it adds an accept-encoding header. Then if a web server receives a request from a user, first, it generates the normal response to the request then checks the accept-encoding header to check how to encode the response to that request. It the webserver supports Gzip, it compresses the copies of each resource.
Then it is the task of the web browser to decompress the content into the original version to serve the original version to the user.
The more you will compress the file, the longer it will take. It is a completely CPU-intensive process. Gzip compresses a file up to the 9th level. The first level means the lesser compression of the file. Therefore, it takes the lowest time in compression while the 9th level if the highest compression of file up to 80%, and it takes a longer time to compress the file. By default, it compresses the file on the 6th level, and you can reset it according to your needs.
These days, people have become tech-savvy, and they are using the latest browsers on their computers. Most of the modern browsers and 75% of the websites are supporting the Gzip. The entire process of compression and decompression is transparent to the user.
Considering the benefit of the Gzip compression, make sure you compress your website files using the same.
