diff --git a/src/protocol/http/http.c b/src/protocol/http/http.c
index 2141160e6..6dc8eb475 100644
--- a/src/protocol/http/http.c
+++ b/src/protocol/http/http.c
@@ -178,6 +178,21 @@ static struct option_info http_options[] = {
 		"security risk because it tells web-masters and the FBI sniffers about\n"
 		"your language preference.")),
 
+#if !(defined(CONFIG_GZIP) || defined(CONFIG_BZIP2))
+#define COMP_NOTE "\nNote that this ELinks version has been compiled without compression\n" \
+		"support anyway. This option will have no effect.\n"
+#else
+#define COMP_NOTE
+#endif
+	INIT_OPT_BOOL("protocol.http", N_("Enable on-the-fly compression (experimental)"),
+		"compression", 0, 1,
+		N_("If enabled, the capability to receive compressed content (gzip and/or\n"
+		"bzip2) is announced to the server, which usually sends the reply\n"
+		"compressed, thus saving some bandwidth at slight CPU expense.\n"
+		"HOWEVER, please note that the ELinks implementation is unfortunately very\n"
+		"buggy and you may see incomplete pages, pages with garbage instead of\n"
+		"content, etc.!" COMP_NOTE)),
+
 	INIT_OPT_BOOL("protocol.http", N_("Activate HTTP TRACE debugging"),
 		"trace", 0, 0,
 		N_("If active, all HTTP requests are sent with TRACE as their method\n"
@@ -772,7 +787,8 @@ http_send_header(struct socket *socket)
 	add_to_string(&header, "Accept: */*");
 	add_crlf_to_string(&header);
 
-	accept_encoding_header(&header);
+	if (get_opt_bool("protocol.http.compression"))
+		accept_encoding_header(&header);
 
 	if (!accept_charset) {
 		init_accept_charset();