If your server is running Apache 2.xx then mod_deflate can be used to compress certain file types, which will give a real boost in loading speed as the client’s browser will be uncompressing the content, rather than the server carrying the full load.

To enable mod_deflate, add the following to root htaccess (or ideally http.conf or if on a virtual server, vhosts.conf)

SetOutputFilter DEFLATE

This snippet of code compresses javascript and css for unpacking by the visitor’s browser.

If your server is running Apache 1.x then mod_gzip can be used. This can be added to the root htaccess file.

   
    mod_gzip_on         Yes   
    mod_gzip_dechunk    Yes   
    mod_gzip_item_include file          .(html?|txt|css|js|php|pl)$   
    mod_gzip_item_include handler       ^cgi-script$   
    mod_gzip_item_include mime      ^text.*   
    mod_gzip_item_include mime      ^application/x-javascript.*   
    mod_gzip_item_exclude mime      ^image.*   
    mod_gzip_item_exclude rspheader ^Content-Encoding:.*gzip.*   
 

You might also like to enable Gzip Compression through Admin/Configuration/Gzip Compression, set at 9.