Documentation
Encoder: deflate
This compression encoder is similar to the gzip encoder. The gzip compression is technically superior to deflate, thus this one is not set up as a default for new virtual servers.
A Compression Level can be optionally set within the range 0 to 9, where 0 is no compression, 1 best speed, and 9 is best compression.
Just as with gzip, the encoding support is based on modules. The configuration file must tell the server to load a module or it won’t be supported.
Also, as with gzip, it is possible to specify which files can be encoded and which ones are to be excluded.
The only reason to offer deflate encoding is for the rare cases in which it is supported by clients that do not support gzip. No modern web browser will lack this. However more than one encoder can be offered simultaneously by Cherokee, so you have the choice to add or not the support for deflate.