Leverage browser caching, how on apache or .htaccess?

Question

I took my chance to provide full .htaccess code to pass on Google PageSpeed Insight:

1. Enable compression
2. Leverage browser caching

# Enable Compression
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/javascript
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/rss+xml
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/vnd.ms-fontobject
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-opentype
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-otf
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-truetype
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-ttf
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xhtml+xml
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/opentype
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/otf
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/ttf
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/svg+xml
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/x-icon
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/javascript
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_gzip.c>
  mod_gzip_on Yes
  mod_gzip_dechunk Yes
  mod_gzip_item_include file .(html?|txt|css|js|php|pl)$
  mod_gzip_item_include handler ^cgi-script$
  mod_gzip_item_include mime ^text/.*
  mod_gzip_item_include mime ^application/x-javascript.*
  mod_gzip_item_exclude mime ^image/.*
  mod_gzip_item_exclude rspheader ^Content-Encoding:.*gzip.*
</IfModule>

# Leverage Browser Caching
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
  ExpiresActive On
  ExpiresByType image/jpg "access 1 year"
  ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access 1 year"
  ExpiresByType image/gif "access 1 year"
  ExpiresByType image/png "access 1 year"
  ExpiresByType text/css "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType text/html "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType application/pdf "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType text/x-javascript "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access 1 year"
  ExpiresDefault "access 1 month"
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
  <filesmatch "\.(ico|flv|jpg|jpeg|png|gif|css|swf)$">
  Header set Cache-Control "max-age=2678400, public"
  </filesmatch>
  <filesmatch "\.(html|htm)$">
  Header set Cache-Control "max-age=7200, private, must-revalidate"
  </filesmatch>
  <filesmatch "\.(pdf)$">
  Header set Cache-Control "max-age=86400, public"
  </filesmatch>
  <filesmatch "\.(js)$">
  Header set Cache-Control "max-age=2678400, private"
  </filesmatch>
</IfModule>

There is also some configurations for various web servers see here.
Hope this would help to get the 100/100 score.

I was doing the same thing a couple days ago. Added this to my .htaccess file:

ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType image/gif A2592000
ExpiresByType image/jpeg A2592000
ExpiresByType image/jpg A2592000
ExpiresByType image/png A2592000
ExpiresByType image/x-icon A2592000
ExpiresByType text/css A86400
ExpiresByType text/javascript A86400
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash A2592000
#
<FilesMatch "\.(gif¦jpe?g¦png¦ico¦css¦js¦swf)$">
Header set Cache-Control "public"
</FilesMatch>

And now when I run google speed page, leverage browwer caching is no longer a high priority.

Hope this helps.

This is what I use to control headers/caching, I'm not an Apache pro, so let me know if there is room for improvement, but I know that this has been working well on all of my sites for some time now.

Mod_expires

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_expires.html

This module controls the setting of the Expires HTTP header and the max-age directive of the Cache-Control HTTP header in server responses. The expiration date can set to be relative to either the time the source file was last modified, or to the time of the client access.

These HTTP headers are an instruction to the client about the document's validity and persistence. If cached, the document may be fetched from the cache rather than from the source until this time has passed. After that, the cache copy is considered "expired" and invalid, and a new copy must be obtained from the source.

# BEGIN Expires
<ifModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresDefault "access plus 1 seconds"
ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 1 seconds"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 2592000 seconds"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 2592000 seconds"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 2592000 seconds"
ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 604800 seconds"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 216000 seconds"
ExpiresByType application/x-javascript "access plus 216000 seconds"
</ifModule>
# END Expires

Mod_headers

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_headers.html

This module provides directives to control and modify HTTP request and response headers. Headers can be merged, replaced or removed.

# BEGIN Caching
<ifModule mod_headers.c>
<filesMatch "\.(ico|pdf|flv|jpg|jpeg|png|gif|swf)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=2592000, public"
</filesMatch>
<filesMatch "\.(css)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=604800, public"
</filesMatch>
<filesMatch "\.(js)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=216000, private"
</filesMatch>
<filesMatch "\.(xml|txt)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=216000, public, must-revalidate"
</filesMatch>
<filesMatch "\.(html|htm|php)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=1, private, must-revalidate"
</filesMatch>
</ifModule>
# END Caching

First we need to check if we have enabled mod_headers.c and mod_expires.c.

sudo apache2 -l

If we don't have it, we need to enable them

sudo a2enmod headers

Then we need to restart apache

sudo apache2 restart

At last, add the rules on .htaccess (seen on other answers), for example

ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType image/gif A2592000
ExpiresByType image/jpeg A2592000
ExpiresByType image/jpg A2592000
ExpiresByType image/png A2592000
ExpiresByType image/x-icon A2592000
ExpiresByType text/css A86400
ExpiresByType text/javascript A86400
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash A2592000
#
<FilesMatch "\.(gif|jpe?g|png|ico|css|js|swf)$">
Header set Cache-Control "public"
</FilesMatch>