---
title: Enable Zstandard compression for default content types · Cloudflare Rules docs
description: Create a compression rule to turn on Zstandard compression for response content types where Cloudflare applies compression by default.
lastUpdated: 2025-04-02T13:25:58.000Z
source_url:
  html: https://77261bbd.preview.developers.cloudflare.com/rules/compression-rules/examples/enable-zstandard/index.md
  md: https://77261bbd.preview.developers.cloudflare.com/rules/compression-rules/examples/enable-zstandard/
---

* Dashboard

  The following example rule will turn on Zstandard compression for response content types where [Cloudflare applies compression by default](https://developers.cloudflare.com/speed/optimization/content/compression/). If the client does not support Zstandard compression, it will use Brotli or Gzip compression as a fallback.

  **When incoming requests match**

  * Custom filter expression:

    * *Media Type* *is in* `text/html, text/richtext, text/plain, text/css, text/x-script, text/x-component, text/x-java-source, text/x-markdown, application/javascript, application/x-javascript, text/javascript, text/js, image/x-icon, image/vnd.microsoft.icon, application/x-perl, application/x-httpd-cgi, text/xml, application/xml, application/rss+xml, application/vnd.api+json, application/x-protobuf, application/json, multipart/bag, multipart/mixed, application/xhtml+xml, font/ttf, font/otf, font/x-woff, image/svg+xml, application/vnd.ms-fontobject, application/ttf, application/x-ttf, application/otf, application/x-otf, application/truetype, application/opentype, application/x-opentype, application/font-woff, application/eot, application/font, application/font-sfnt, application/wasm, application/javascript-binast, application/manifest+json, application/ld+json, application/graphql+json, application/geo+json`

  **Then**

  * **Compression options**: Custom
  * **Define a custom order for compression types**: `Zstandard`, `Brotli`, `Gzip`

* API

  The following example sets the rules of an existing [entry point ruleset](https://developers.cloudflare.com/ruleset-engine/about/rulesets/#entry-point-ruleset) (with ID `{ruleset_id}`) for the `http_response_compression` phase to a single compression rule, using the [Update a zone ruleset](https://developers.cloudflare.com/api/resources/rulesets/methods/update/) operation:

  ```bash
  curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$ZONE_ID/rulesets/$RULESET_ID" \
    --request PUT \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" \
    --json '{
      "rules": [
          {
              "expression": "(http.response.content_type.media_type in {\"text/html\" \"text/richtext\" \"text/plain\" \"text/css\" \"text/x-script\" \"text/x-component\" \"text/x-java-source\" \"text/x-markdown\" \"application/javascript\" \"application/x-javascript\" \"text/javascript\" \"text/js\" \"image/x-icon\" \"image/vnd.microsoft.icon\" \"application/x-perl\" \"application/x-httpd-cgi\" \"text/xml\" \"application/xml\" \"application/rss+xml\" \"application/vnd.api+json\" \"application/x-protobuf\" \"application/json\" \"multipart/bag\" \"multipart/mixed\" \"application/xhtml+xml\" \"font/ttf\" \"font/otf\" \"font/x-woff\" \"image/svg+xml\" \"application/vnd.ms-fontobject\" \"application/ttf\" \"application/x-ttf\" \"application/otf\" \"application/x-otf\" \"application/truetype\" \"application/opentype\" \"application/x-opentype\" \"application/font-woff\" \"application/eot\" \"application/font\" \"application/font-sfnt\" \"application/wasm\" \"application/javascript-binast\" \"application/manifest+json\" \"application/ld+json\" \"application/graphql+json\" \"application/geo+json\"})",
              "action": "compress_response",
              "action_parameters": {
                  "algorithms": [
                      {
                          "name": "zstd"
                      },
                      {
                          "name": "brotli"
                      },
                      {
                          "name": "gzip"
                      }
                  ]
              }
          }
      ]
    }'
  ```
