Gzip compression is a widely used method for reducing the size of files, especially in web development, to improve website performance. It works by compressing the data before it is sent from the server to the browser, which helps decrease loading times for web pages. Gzip uses algorithms to identify repeating patterns in the content and replaces them with shorter representations, making the overall size of the file smaller.
When a user visits a website, the server sends the compressed version of the files (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.) to the browser. The browser then decompresses these files before displaying the content. This process helps reduce bandwidth usage and improves page load speed, leading to a better user experience. Most modern browsers support Gzip compression, making it a standard practice for optimizing websites. By enabling Gzip compression on your server, you can significantly reduce the size of web assets and speed up page rendering.