Output Compression Level in opencart

Question

Can someone please explain what GZIP Output Compression Level is and how it affects OpenCart. I see that you can set the GZIP Output Compression Level in the Admin->System-Settings->Server Tab. I guess you can set to a value between 0 and 9. What does 0 mean, what does 9 mean? How can I tell what the best setting should be for my website?

Answer 1

Output compression is the compression level sent for gzipped content sent from the server to your customer's browsers. Basically if your customer's browsers allow for gzipped content, it will be sent to them. This has the benefit of a smaller download and therefore a quicker transfer of data, saving time and bandwidth

As for the number differences, 0 is no compression, 9 is the maximum compression. Note that the higher the number, the more it affects your server performance. You may or may not notice the difference depending on your server, but it's advised to enable the gzip output. This will also increase your google page speed scores