A lot of code on the internet refers to writing custom ActionFilters, or even HttpHandlers that will compress your return payload for you.

For example, see this package (which with its name implies that it is Microsoft, but then says it’s not Microsoft).

At the moment of writing the above-linked package even throws an error when you return a 200 OK without a body…

But in the end, it’s very simple to enable compression on your IIS server without writing a single line of code:

You first need to install the IIS Dynamic Content Compression module:

Or, if you’re a command line guy, execute the following command in an elevated CMD:

dism /online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:IIS-HttpCompressionDynamic

Next up you need to enable the Dynamic Content Compression to compress

application/json

and

application/json; charset=utf-8

To do this, execute the following commands in an elevated CMD:

cd c:\Windows\System32\inetsrv

appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/httpCompression /+"dynamicTypes.[mimeType='application/json',enabled='True']" /commit:apphost
appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/httpCompression /+"dynamicTypes.[mimeType='application/json; charset=utf-8',enabled='True']" /commit:apphost
    


This adds the 2 mimetypes to the list of types the module is allowed to compress. Validate that they are added with this command:

appcmd.exe list config -section:system.webServer/httpCompression ```

Validate that the 2 mimetypes are there and enabled:

And lastly, you’ll probably need to restart the Windows Process Activation Service.

Best is to do this through the UI because I have yet to find a way in CMD to restart a service (can’t seem to start services that are dependent on the one we just started).

In services.msc you’ll need to search for Windows Process Activation Service. Restart it.

Obviously there are more settings available, take a look at the httpCompression Element settings page.

I recommend reading about 2 at least:

  • dynamicCompressionDisableCpuUsage
  • noCompressionForProxies

Good luck,

-Kristof