The page is served without compression

Why it matters

The HTML document is sent with no Content-Encoding (gzip, Brotli, or similar), so every visitor downloads the full uncompressed size. Text compresses by roughly 70%, so this is one of the largest, cheapest speed wins available. Enable gzip or Brotli at your server, host, or CDN — most platforms have it behind a single setting.

How ShipReady detects it

Transport hygiene: how the origin sends its bytes. Origin-scoped because these are facts about the server, not a document — and each is read with a header- only stream fetch, so the body is never downloaded.

Detection is deterministic. ShipReady reports this only when it observes the condition directly, and prefers to miss a real problem over inventing one. Rule version 1.0.0.

How to fix it

This is the prompt ShipReady puts in your report — written to be pasted straight into Cursor, Claude Code, or whichever assistant built the app.

Your HTML is served without compression (no Content-Encoding header), so visitors download the full uncompressed size. Text compresses by roughly 70%, making this one of the biggest, cheapest speed wins. Turn on gzip or Brotli where your responses are served: most hosts and CDNs (Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare, Fastly) do it with a single setting or automatically; nginx uses `gzip on;` (plus the brotli module for Brotli); Apache uses mod_deflate; an Express app can add the `compression` middleware. Prefer Brotli with gzip as the fallback, and confirm afterwards that the response carries `Content-Encoding: br` or `gzip`.

Frequently asked questions

What does "The page is served without compression" mean?

The HTML document is sent with no Content-Encoding (gzip, Brotli, or similar), so every visitor downloads the full uncompressed size.

How serious is it?

ShipReady rates this medium. Fix soon. Meaningfully weakens a defence or degrades how the site works.

How do I fix it?

Paste the fix prompt on this page into Cursor, Claude Code or your AI editor. It is the same prompt ShipReady puts in your report.

Can I check my own site?

Yes — ShipReady scans up to ten pages of any public site for free and reports this alongside every other check. The free report lists every issue it finds and shows full evidence and a fix prompt for the critical and high-severity ones; medium and low findings are counted and unlock on Pro.

Related checks

• Build assets are served without cachinglow
• The page is reached through a chain of redirectslow
• A JavaScript bundle is large enough to make the page feel slowmedium
• An image is large enough to be slowing the page downmedium
• Real visitors wait too long to see your main contentmedium
• The page is slow to respond when people tap or clickmedium