REST Resource Representation Compression: Improve API Performance

Compression in REST APIs helps reduce payload size, improve response times, and save bandwidth when transferring large amounts of data over the network. By using Gzip or Brotli compression, REST APIs can significantly improve performance, especially in high-traffic applications.

In this article, we’ll cover:

✔ What is REST API Compression?
✔ Why Use Compression in REST APIs?
✔ Common Compression Algorithms (Gzip, Brotli, Deflate)
✔ How to Enable Compression in Spring Boot REST APIs?
✔ Best Practices for API Compression

Let’s get started! 🚀

🔹 What is REST API Compression?

REST resource representation compression is the process of reducing the size of JSON, XML, or other responses before sending them to the client.

📌 Without Compression:

Content-Length: 5000 bytes

📌 With Compression (Gzip):

Content-Length: 1200 bytes  ✅ (Smaller payload = Faster response)
Content-Encoding: gzip

By compressing API responses, we reduce data transfer time and enhance API performance.

🔹 Why Use Compression in REST APIs?