How to use Nginx for gzip compression and decompression

How to use Nginx for gzip compression and decompression

Nginx is a high-performance web server that can also act as a reverse proxy server and load balancer. In web application development, optimizing website speed is a very important task. Using gzip compression and decompression technology can effectively reduce the size of transmitted files and improve website access speed. This article will introduce how to use Nginx for gzip compression and decompression.

1. Enable gzip compression

First, we need to enable gzip compression in the Nginx configuration file. Usually, the Nginx configuration file is located at /etc/nginx/nginx.conf.

Open the configuration file and find the gzip configuration item under the http module, as shown below:

http {
    gzip on;
    gzip_disable "msie6";
    gzip_types text/plain text/css application/javascript;
    ...
}

In the above configuration, gzip on means turning on the gzip compression function. gzip_disable "msie6" means to disable the gzip compression function of the msie6 browser because there is a problem with the browser's support for gzip compression. gzip_types specifies the file types that require gzip compression.

2. Configure gzip compression level

Add the gzip_comp_level configuration item under the above gzip configuration item, which indicates the level of gzip compression. The level ranges from 1 to 9. The higher the number, the higher the compression rate, but it will also increase the compression time.

The sample configuration is as follows:

http {
    gzip on;
    gzip_disable "msie6";
    gzip_types text/plain text/css application/javascript;

    gzip_comp_level 6;
    ...
}

In the above configuration, gzip_comp_level is set to 6, indicating the level of gzip compression.

3. Configure gzip compression buffer size

Add the gzip_buffers configuration item under the above gzip configuration item to indicate the size of the compression buffer. By default, Nginx automatically allocates compression buffers based on response content. However, if you have special requirements for the size of the compression buffer, it can be configured.

The sample configuration is as follows:

http {
    gzip on;
    gzip_disable "msie6";
    gzip_types text/plain text/css application/javascript;

    gzip_comp_level 6;
    gzip_buffers 16 8k;
    ...
}

In the above configuration, gzip_buffers is set to 16 8k, indicating that 16 8k-sized compression buffers are allocated.

4. Configure the minimum file size for gzip compression

Add the gzip_min_length configuration item under the above gzip configuration item to indicate the minimum file size for gzip compression. Gzip compression will only occur if the file size exceeds this value.

The sample configuration is as follows:

http {
    gzip on;
    gzip_disable "msie6";
    gzip_types text/plain text/css application/javascript;

    gzip_comp_level 6;
    gzip_buffers 16 8k;
    gzip_min_length 256;
    ...
}

In the above configuration, gzip_min_length is set to 256, which means that gzip compression will only be performed when the file size exceeds 256 bytes.

5. Use gzip compression and decompression

After the above configuration, Nginx will automatically gzip compress the appropriate files requested by the client. When the file requested by the client is compressed by gzip, Nginx will automatically add the "Content-Encoding: gzip" response header and decompress the response content.

In fact, Nginx can not only gzip compress and decompress files, but also gzip compress dynamically generated response content. For dynamically generated response content, gzip compression can be achieved by setting the relevant page encoding header, as shown below:

location / {
    ...
    gzip_proxied any;
    ...
}

In the above configuration, gzip_proxied is set to any, which means gzip compression is performed on all types of requests.

Through the above configuration and sample code, we can flexibly use Nginx's gzip compression and decompression functions to optimize website access speed. At the same time, for dynamically generated response content, gzip compression can also be achieved by setting the page encoding header.

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