diff --git a/xbmc/filesystem/ZipFile.cpp b/xbmc/filesystem/ZipFile.cpp
index 225e9fd624929..43e9eb37141d1 100644
--- a/xbmc/filesystem/ZipFile.cpp
+++ b/xbmc/filesystem/ZipFile.cpp
@@ -525,3 +525,40 @@ bool CZipFile::DecompressGzip(const std::string& in, std::string& out)
   inflateEnd(&strm);
   return true;
 }
+
+bool CZipFile::CompressGZip(const std::string& in, std::string& out, int compressionLevel)
+{
+  const int windowBits = MAX_WBITS + 16;
+
+  z_stream strm;
+  memset(&strm, 0, sizeof(strm));
+
+  int err = deflateInit2(&strm, compressionLevel, Z_DEFLATED, windowBits, 8, Z_DEFAULT_STRATEGY);
+  if (err != Z_OK)
+  {
+    CLog::Log(LOGERROR, "FileZip: zlib compress error %d", err);
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  strm.avail_in = static_cast<unsigned int>(in.size());
+  strm.next_in = reinterpret_cast<unsigned char*>(const_cast<char*>(in.c_str()));
+
+  char outbuffer[32768];
+  do
+  {
+    strm.next_out = reinterpret_cast<Bytef*>(outbuffer);
+    strm.avail_out = sizeof(outbuffer);
+    err = deflate(&strm, Z_FINISH);
+    if (out.size() < strm.total_out)
+      out.append(outbuffer, strm.total_out - out.size());
+  } while (err == Z_OK);
+
+  deflateEnd(&strm);
+
+  if (err != Z_STREAM_END)
+  {
+    CLog::Log(LOGERROR, "FileZip: failed to compress. zlib error %d", err);
+    return false;
+  }
+  return true;
+}
diff --git a/xbmc/filesystem/ZipFile.h b/xbmc/filesystem/ZipFile.h
index 1b09e5c80bfa8..1263bd96071ce 100644
--- a/xbmc/filesystem/ZipFile.h
+++ b/xbmc/filesystem/ZipFile.h
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ namespace XFILE
 
     /*! Decompress gzip encoded buffer in-memory */
     static bool DecompressGzip(const std::string& in, std::string& out);
+    /*! Compress to gzip encoded buffer in-memory */
+    static bool CompressGZip(const std::string& in, std::string& out, int compressionLevel);
 
   private:
     bool InitDecompress();
diff --git a/xbmc/network/WebServer.cpp b/xbmc/network/WebServer.cpp
index 768e59426f5fb..99862d5704d3b 100644
--- a/xbmc/network/WebServer.cpp
+++ b/xbmc/network/WebServer.cpp
@@ -362,6 +362,10 @@ int CWebServer::FinalizeRequest(const std::shared_ptr<IHTTPRequestHandler>& hand
   if (!responseDetails.contentType.empty())
     handler->AddResponseHeader(MHD_HTTP_HEADER_CONTENT_TYPE, responseDetails.contentType);
 
+  // if the request handler has set a content encoding and it hasn't been set as a header, add it
+  if (!responseDetails.contentEncoding.empty())
+    handler->AddResponseHeader(MHD_HTTP_HEADER_CONTENT_ENCODING, responseDetails.contentEncoding);
+
   // if the request handler has set a last modified date and it hasn't been set as a header, add it
   CDateTime lastModified;
   if (handler->GetLastModifiedDate(lastModified) && lastModified.IsValid())
diff --git a/xbmc/network/httprequesthandler/HTTPJsonRpcHandler.cpp b/xbmc/network/httprequesthandler/HTTPJsonRpcHandler.cpp
index 5ac94cc29286b..c6074464be3b9 100644
--- a/xbmc/network/httprequesthandler/HTTPJsonRpcHandler.cpp
+++ b/xbmc/network/httprequesthandler/HTTPJsonRpcHandler.cpp
@@ -10,11 +10,14 @@
 
 #include "URL.h"
 #include "filesystem/File.h"
+#include "filesystem/ZipFile.h"
 #include "interfaces/json-rpc/JSONRPC.h"
 #include "interfaces/json-rpc/JSONServiceDescription.h"
 #include "interfaces/json-rpc/JSONUtils.h"
 #include "network/WebServer.h"
 #include "network/httprequesthandler/HTTPRequestHandlerUtils.h"
+#include "settings/AdvancedSettings.h"
+#include "settings/SettingsComponent.h"
 #include "utils/JSONVariantWriter.h"
 #include "utils/Variant.h"
 #include "utils/log.h"
@@ -99,6 +102,30 @@ int CHTTPJsonRpcHandler::HandleRequest()
     return MHD_YES;
   }
 
+  std::string acceptEncoding = HTTPRequestHandlerUtils::GetRequestHeaderValue(
+      m_request.connection, MHD_HEADER_KIND, MHD_HTTP_HEADER_ACCEPT_ENCODING);
+  if (isRequest && acceptEncoding.find("gzip") != std::string::npos)
+  {
+    int compressionLevel =
+        CServiceBroker::GetSettingsComponent()->GetAdvancedSettings()->m_jsonCompressionLevel;
+    if (compressionLevel != 0)
+    {
+      unsigned int time = XbmcThreads::SystemClockMillis();
+      std::string gzipAnswer;
+      auto uncompressedSize = m_responseData.size();
+      if (XFILE::CZipFile::CompressGZip(m_responseData, gzipAnswer, compressionLevel))
+      {
+        m_responseData = std::move(gzipAnswer);
+        m_response.contentEncoding = "gzip";
+        unsigned int duration = XbmcThreads::SystemClockMillis() - time;
+        if (duration > 1)
+          CLog::Log(LOGINFO, "{0} - Compress time {1}ms [{2} -> {3} R{5}:{4:.2f}]", __FUNCTION__,
+                    duration, uncompressedSize, m_responseData.size(),
+                    static_cast<float>(uncompressedSize) / m_responseData.size(), compressionLevel);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   m_requestData.clear();
 
   m_responseRange.SetData(m_responseData.c_str(), m_responseData.size());
diff --git a/xbmc/network/httprequesthandler/IHTTPRequestHandler.h b/xbmc/network/httprequesthandler/IHTTPRequestHandler.h
index e62795f3fab89..08d4b70afc6f8 100644
--- a/xbmc/network/httprequesthandler/IHTTPRequestHandler.h
+++ b/xbmc/network/httprequesthandler/IHTTPRequestHandler.h
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ typedef struct HTTPResponseDetails {
   std::multimap<std::string, std::string> headers;
   std::string contentType;
   uint64_t totalLength;
+  std::string contentEncoding;
 } HTTPResponseDetails;
 
 class IHTTPRequestHandler
diff --git a/xbmc/settings/AdvancedSettings.cpp b/xbmc/settings/AdvancedSettings.cpp
index bf7c76a5172f5..5b3b4bf1b86e9 100644
--- a/xbmc/settings/AdvancedSettings.cpp
+++ b/xbmc/settings/AdvancedSettings.cpp
@@ -393,6 +393,7 @@ void CAdvancedSettings::Initialize()
 
   m_jsonOutputCompact = true;
   m_jsonTcpPort = 9090;
+  m_jsonCompressionLevel = 4;
 
   m_enableMultimediaKeys = false;
 
@@ -834,6 +835,7 @@ void CAdvancedSettings::ParseSettingsFile(const std::string &file)
   {
     XMLUtils::GetBoolean(pElement, "compactoutput", m_jsonOutputCompact);
     XMLUtils::GetUInt(pElement, "tcpport", m_jsonTcpPort);
+    XMLUtils::GetInt(pElement, "compressionlevel", m_jsonCompressionLevel);
   }
 
   pElement = pRootElement->FirstChildElement("samba");
diff --git a/xbmc/settings/AdvancedSettings.h b/xbmc/settings/AdvancedSettings.h
index 4949e9c764ce9..8a85f55f4d235 100644
--- a/xbmc/settings/AdvancedSettings.h
+++ b/xbmc/settings/AdvancedSettings.h
@@ -334,6 +334,7 @@ class CAdvancedSettings : public ISettingCallback, public ISettingsHandler
 
     bool m_jsonOutputCompact;
     unsigned int m_jsonTcpPort;
+    int m_jsonCompressionLevel; /*!< @brief zLib compression level from -1 to 9. (0 disable compression support) */
 
     bool m_enableMultimediaKeys;
     std::vector<std::string> m_settingsFiles;