How to Enable Shopify
GZIP Compression
Table of Contents
A 2023 report that analyzed over 4 billion website visits found the average website load time to be 2.5 seconds on desktop and 8.6 seconds on mobile. However, your website shouldn’t just meet average load times — if anything, it should perform better.
In fact, loading speed times of 0-4 seconds are ideal for high conversions, as a Portent study found. On e-commerce websites like Shopify, load times further impact the overall user experience and can directly affect sales.
One way to improve website lazy loading speed is by enabling GZIP compression, which reduces the size of your website files and allows them to be transferred more quickly.
What Is GZIP Compression and Why Does It Matter for Shopify?
Compression means reducing file format sizes. There are two types of compression:
- Lossy: Some data is discarded to reduce file size, like in image compression. Image quality may be slightly affected, but it’s not usually noticeable.
- Lossless: All data is preserved, but the file size is reduced.
GZIP compression is just one of many types of file compression methods that follow a lossless compression technique. It uses a compression algorithm to compress a certain file format (e.g., HTML, CSS, JavaScript).
GZIP is currently the file compression standard for websites, which is why it’s used by over 50% of the websites that use compression, as W3Techs reported. It helps improve user experience, improve load time, and reduce file sizes.
GZIP compression works by reducing the size of the original file by removing redundant or unnecessary data. The file types it works best with are HTML, JavaScript, and CSS files. These reduced file sizes are then sent to the user’s browser, which decompresses them before displaying them on the website.
How Does GZIP Compression Improve Load Time?
Some other compression methods, like Brotli, do a better job of reducing file sizes than GZIP. However, they’re not as widely used because they’re slower than GZIP. After all, the main reason for compressing files is to reduce loading times, so using GZIP makes a lot of sense.
Modern browsers can understand and decode GZIP-compressed files. These files reduce server load since they’re smaller, which translates to faster data transfer. With a compression ratio of up to 70%, GZIP can significantly decrease the amount of data needed to be transferred, reducing load time by several seconds.
How to Enable GZIP Compression on Shopify Websites
The good news about Shopify: it already uses GZIP compression by default. In fact, most modern web servers come with built-in GZIP support. Since this is already done on the server side, you don’t have to manually configure Shopify GZIP compression with server software.
Since e-commerce stores feature many assets and media files, it’s common for them to take some time to load. However, even large files will load quickly with GZIP compression. Your visitors won’t feel any difference in page quality, but they’ll see a significant improvement in loading times.
With lazy loading on a Shopify store, a web page loads content as the user scrolls down, so the bottom will only load if someone goes all the way down.
To further confirm that GZIP compression is enabled on your Shopify store, you can review headers in Chrome DevTools. Here’s how:
- Right-click on the web page you want to check and select “Inspect.”
- In the “Network” tab, select a network request, such as for HTML or CSS.
- Click on the “Headers” tab in the panel that opens.
- In “Response Headers,” look for the Content-Encoding header.
GZIP compression is on if it reads “Content-Encoding: gzip.”
Using an Online Tool To Verify GZIP Compression
You can always double-check if GZIP compression is enabled for a certain file format using an online GZIP compression checking tool.
Gift of Speed is a free tool to check if your website is GZIP-compressed. Type in your website URL and the tool will say if it’s compressed and how much space it saved.
If you still find that your website doesn’t have GZIP compression, contact Shopify support.
Optimizing GZIP Compression for Better Performance
Your Shopify theme or third-party plugins and apps may hinder optimal GZIP compression. As a result, the compression ratio may be lowered, or some file types may not be compressed, leading to slow load times.
You can optimize GZIP compression by:
- Removing unnecessary code and files from your website
- Minimizing external scripts, plugins, and apps
- Regularly testing your website’s load time
Best Practices for Using GZIP Compression on Shopify
The following are some best practices for using GZIP compression on Shopify.
Balance Compression With File Optimization
Along with reducing file sizes with GZIP, you should also optimize files before compressing them.
Some other compression methods include shrinking images, minifying code, and combining multiple files into one. Try these tips:
- Compress images using a tool like Compressor.io, and only include images necessary for the page’s content.
- Minimize CSS and JavaScript files by combining them into one file, eliminating unnecessary code.
- Use static images instead of GIFs.
- Limit third-party applications and scripts, as they can slow down your site.
- Use browser caching to reduce load times for returning visitors.
- Upgrade your hosting plan if you experience significant traffic on your site.
Manage Server and CDN Considerations
Shopify’s server software automatically GZIP-compresses text assets like CSS and JavaScript. If you use a CDN, check that it supports GZIP compression to further speed up website load time and reduce file sizes.
Third-party scripts may also interfere with GZIP compression. Test your website’s performance with and without these scripts to see if they are negatively affecting file sizes.
Common Issues and Troubleshooting with GZIP Compression on Shopify
Typically, you won’t have any major issues with Shopify GZIP compression on modern browsers. If you notice that file types, such as JavaScript, aren’t being compressed, this could be due to the original file type not being supported for compression. Check with your hosting provider if they support GZIP compression for all file types.
As mentioned, third-party apps can cause issues with GZIP compression for file sizes. If you notice problems after installing a new app, disable it to see if the compression issue is resolved.
You can also reach out to Shopify support for assistance. They can provide case-specific troubleshooting tips, which may include removing unsupported apps or custom code that could be interfering with compression.
How To Test Compression After Fixes
After fixing a compression issue, you can use an online tool to check if your website is now GZIP-compressed. Since these tools work for nearly any file format, you’ll know right away if it’s resolved.
And don’t hesitate to get professional help. A Shopify site speed optimization service like BLiNK ViTALS can transform your slow site into a lightning-fast experience. Even better, you get this service for both desktop and mobile.
Speed Up Your Shopify Store With BLiNK ViTALS
Shopify business owners like you have a lot on your plate, from designing your store to managing inventory. Use BLiNK ViTALS for help speeding up your site for high conversions. Our AI algorithm implements speed enhancements on all your pages to ensure that mobile and desktop users don’t have to wait for your site to load.
Contact BLiNK ViTALS to learn how to optimize your Shopify store for lightning-fast speed and improved customer experience.
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