When using HTTP, GCS decompresses gzip-encoded objects by default:
https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/transcoding
``` Setting this option to `gzip` disables automatic decompression. This can be useful for applications wanting to operate with the compressed data. Setting this option to `identity`, or not setting this option, returns decompressed data.
<aside class="note"><b>Note:</b>
Note that decompressive transcoding only apply to objects that are compressed with `gzip` and have their `content_encoding()` attribute set accordingly. At the time of this writing GCS does not decompress objects stored with other compression algorithms, nor does it detect the object compression based on the object name or its contents.
</aside>
###### See Also
[`AcceptEncodingGzip()`](xref:namespacegoogle_1_1cloud_1_1storage_1abb76cc18ed021b748ead4a4845b9b81e) is a helper function to disable decompressive encoding.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-04-09 UTC."],[[["Version 2.37.0-rc is the latest release candidate, with previous versions dating back to 2.11.0 available for review."],["The webpage provides documentation for `google::cloud::storage::AcceptEncoding` across multiple versions of the C++ library."],["By default, GCS automatically decompresses gzip-encoded objects during HTTP retrieval."],["Setting the `AcceptEncoding` option to `gzip` disables this automatic decompression, allowing applications to work with compressed data."],["Decompressive transcoding only applies to objects compressed with `gzip` and where their `content_encoding()` is set accordingly."]]],[]]
