diff --git a/cmd/caddy2/main.go b/cmd/caddy2/main.go
index d0289ecf..9e1d47f3 100644
--- a/cmd/caddy2/main.go
+++ b/cmd/caddy2/main.go
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import (
 	// this is where modules get plugged in
 	_ "github.com/caddyserver/caddy2/modules/caddyhttp"
 	_ "github.com/caddyserver/caddy2/modules/caddyhttp/caddylog"
+	_ "github.com/caddyserver/caddy2/modules/caddyhttp/encode"
+	_ "github.com/caddyserver/caddy2/modules/caddyhttp/encode/gzip"
 	_ "github.com/caddyserver/caddy2/modules/caddyhttp/fileserver"
 	_ "github.com/caddyserver/caddy2/modules/caddyhttp/headers"
 	_ "github.com/caddyserver/caddy2/modules/caddyhttp/markdown"
diff --git a/modules/caddyhttp/encode/encode.go b/modules/caddyhttp/encode/encode.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2d6f5242
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/caddyhttp/encode/encode.go
@@ -0,0 +1,286 @@
+// Package encode implements an encoder middleware for Caddy. The initial
+// enhancements related to Accept-Encoding, minimum content length, and
+// buffer/writer pools were adapted from https://github.com/xi2/httpgzip
+// then modified heavily to accommodate modular encoders. Code borrowed
+// from that repository is Copyright (c) 2015 The Httpgzip Authors.
+package encode
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+	"sort"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+
+	"github.com/caddyserver/caddy2"
+	"github.com/caddyserver/caddy2/modules/caddyhttp"
+)
+
+func init() {
+	caddy2.RegisterModule(caddy2.Module{
+		Name: "http.middleware.encode",
+		New:  func() interface{} { return new(Encode) },
+	})
+}
+
+// Encode is a middleware which can encode responses.
+type Encode struct {
+	EncodingsRaw map[string]json.RawMessage `json:"encodings,omitempty"`
+	Prefer       []string                   `json:"prefer,omitempty"`
+	MinLength    int                        `json:"minimum_length,omitempty"`
+
+	Encodings map[string]Encoding `json:"-"`
+
+	writerPools map[string]*sync.Pool // TODO: these pools do not get reused through config reloads...
+}
+
+// Provision provisions enc.
+func (enc *Encode) Provision(ctx caddy2.Context) error {
+	enc.Encodings = make(map[string]Encoding)
+	enc.writerPools = make(map[string]*sync.Pool)
+
+	for modName, rawMsg := range enc.EncodingsRaw {
+		val, err := ctx.LoadModule("http.encoders."+modName, rawMsg)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("loading encoder module '%s': %v", modName, err)
+		}
+		encoder := val.(Encoding)
+		enc.Encodings[modName] = encoder
+
+		enc.writerPools[modName] = &sync.Pool{
+			New: func() interface{} {
+				return encoder.NewEncoder()
+			},
+		}
+	}
+	enc.EncodingsRaw = nil // allow GC to deallocate - TODO: Does this help?
+
+	if enc.MinLength == 0 {
+		enc.MinLength = defaultMinLength
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (enc *Encode) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, next caddyhttp.Handler) error {
+	for _, encName := range acceptedEncodings(r) {
+		if _, ok := enc.writerPools[encName]; !ok {
+			continue // encoding not offered
+		}
+		w = enc.openResponseWriter(encName, w)
+		defer w.(*responseWriter).Close()
+		break
+	}
+
+	return next.ServeHTTP(w, r)
+}
+
+// openResponseWriter creates a new response writer that may (or may not)
+// encode the response with encodingName. The returned response writer MUST
+// be closed after the handler completes.
+func (enc *Encode) openResponseWriter(encodingName string, w http.ResponseWriter) *responseWriter {
+	buf := bufPool.Get().(*bytes.Buffer)
+	buf.Reset()
+	return &responseWriter{
+		ResponseWriterWrapper: &caddyhttp.ResponseWriterWrapper{ResponseWriter: w},
+		encodingName:          encodingName,
+		buf:                   buf,
+		config:                enc,
+	}
+}
+
+// responseWriter writes to an underlying response writer
+// using the encoding represented by encodingName and
+// configured by config.
+type responseWriter struct {
+	*caddyhttp.ResponseWriterWrapper
+	encodingName string
+	w            Encoder
+	buf          *bytes.Buffer
+	config       *Encode
+	statusCode   int
+}
+
+// WriteHeader stores the status to write when the time comes
+// to actually write the header.
+func (rw *responseWriter) WriteHeader(status int) {
+	rw.statusCode = status
+}
+
+// Write writes to the response. If the response qualifies,
+// it is encoded using the encoder, which is initialized
+// if not done so already.
+func (rw *responseWriter) Write(p []byte) (int, error) {
+	var n, written int
+	var err error
+
+	if rw.buf != nil && rw.config.MinLength > 0 {
+		written = rw.buf.Len()
+		_, err := rw.buf.Write(p)
+		if err != nil {
+			return 0, err
+		}
+		if rw.buf.Len() < rw.config.MinLength {
+			return len(p), nil
+		}
+		rw.init()
+		p = rw.buf.Bytes()
+		defer func() {
+			bufPool.Put(rw.buf)
+			rw.buf = nil
+		}()
+	}
+
+	switch {
+	case rw.w != nil:
+		n, err = rw.w.Write(p)
+	default:
+		n, err = rw.ResponseWriter.Write(p)
+	}
+	n -= written
+	if n < 0 {
+		n = 0
+	}
+	return n, err
+}
+
+// init should be called once we know we are writing an encoded response.
+func (rw *responseWriter) init() {
+	if rw.Header().Get("Content-Encoding") == "" && rw.buf.Len() >= rw.config.MinLength {
+		rw.w = rw.config.writerPools[rw.encodingName].Get().(Encoder)
+		rw.w.Reset(rw.ResponseWriter)
+		rw.Header().Del("Content-Length") // https://github.com/golang/go/issues/14975
+		rw.Header().Set("Content-Encoding", rw.encodingName)
+	}
+	rw.Header().Del("Accept-Ranges") // we don't know ranges for dynamically-encoded content
+	rw.ResponseWriter.WriteHeader(rw.statusCode)
+}
+
+// Close writes any remaining buffered response and
+// deallocates any active resources.
+func (rw *responseWriter) Close() error {
+	var err error
+	if rw.buf != nil {
+		rw.init()
+		p := rw.buf.Bytes()
+		defer func() {
+			bufPool.Put(rw.buf)
+			rw.buf = nil
+		}()
+		switch {
+		case rw.w != nil:
+			_, err = rw.w.Write(p)
+		default:
+			_, err = rw.ResponseWriter.Write(p)
+		}
+	}
+	if rw.w != nil {
+		err2 := rw.w.Close()
+		if err2 != nil && err == nil {
+			err = err2
+		}
+		rw.config.writerPools[rw.encodingName].Put(rw.w)
+		rw.w = nil
+	}
+	return err
+}
+
+// acceptedEncodings returns the list of encodings that the
+// client supports, in descending order of preference. If
+// the Sec-WebSocket-Key header is present then non-identity
+// encodings are not considered. See
+// http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec14.html.
+func acceptedEncodings(r *http.Request) []string {
+	acceptEncHeader := r.Header.Get("Accept-Encoding")
+	websocketKey := r.Header.Get("Sec-WebSocket-Key")
+	if acceptEncHeader == "" {
+		return []string{}
+	}
+
+	var prefs []encodingPreference
+
+	for _, accepted := range strings.Split(acceptEncHeader, ",") {
+		parts := strings.Split(accepted, ";")
+		encName := strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(parts[0]))
+
+		// determine q-factor
+		qFactor := 1.0
+		if len(parts) > 1 {
+			qFactorStr := strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(parts[1]))
+			if strings.HasPrefix(qFactorStr, "q=") {
+				if qFactorFloat, err := strconv.ParseFloat(qFactorStr[2:], 32); err == nil {
+					if qFactorFloat >= 0 && qFactorFloat <= 1 {
+						qFactor = qFactorFloat
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+
+		// encodings with q-factor of 0 are not accepted;
+		// use a small theshold to account for float precision
+		if qFactor < 0.00001 {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// don't encode WebSocket handshakes
+		if websocketKey != "" && encName != "identity" {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		prefs = append(prefs, encodingPreference{
+			encoding: encName,
+			q:        qFactor,
+		})
+	}
+
+	// sort preferences by descending q-factor
+	sort.Slice(prefs, func(i, j int) bool { return prefs[i].q > prefs[j].q })
+
+	// TODO: If no preference, or same pref for all encodings,
+	// and not websocket, use default encoding ordering (enc.Prefer)
+	// for those which are accepted by the client
+
+	prefEncNames := make([]string, len(prefs))
+	for i := range prefs {
+		prefEncNames[i] = prefs[i].encoding
+	}
+
+	return prefEncNames
+}
+
+// encodingPreference pairs an encoding with its q-factor.
+type encodingPreference struct {
+	encoding string
+	q        float64
+}
+
+// Encoder is a type which can encode a stream of data.
+type Encoder interface {
+	io.WriteCloser
+	Reset(io.Writer)
+}
+
+// Encoding is a type which can create encoders of its kind.
+type Encoding interface {
+	NewEncoder() Encoder
+}
+
+var bufPool = sync.Pool{
+	New: func() interface{} {
+		return new(bytes.Buffer)
+	},
+}
+
+// defaultMinLength is the minimum length at which to compress content.
+const defaultMinLength = 512
+
+// Interface guards
+var (
+	_ caddy2.Provisioner          = (*Encode)(nil)
+	_ caddyhttp.MiddlewareHandler = (*Encode)(nil)
+	_ caddyhttp.HTTPInterfaces    = (*responseWriter)(nil)
+)
diff --git a/modules/caddyhttp/encode/gzip/gzip.go b/modules/caddyhttp/encode/gzip/gzip.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0da5fc34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/caddyhttp/encode/gzip/gzip.go
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package caddygzip
+
+import (
+	"compress/flate"
+	"compress/gzip" // TODO: consider using https://github.com/klauspost/compress/gzip
+
+	"github.com/caddyserver/caddy2"
+	"github.com/caddyserver/caddy2/modules/caddyhttp/encode"
+)
+
+func init() {
+	caddy2.RegisterModule(caddy2.Module{
+		Name: "http.encoders.gzip",
+		New:  func() interface{} { return new(Gzip) },
+	})
+}
+
+// Gzip can create gzip encoders.
+type Gzip struct {
+	Level int `json:"level,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// NewEncoder returns a new gzip writer.
+func (g Gzip) NewEncoder() encode.Encoder {
+	if g.Level <= flate.NoCompression {
+		g.Level = defaultGzipLevel
+	}
+	if g.Level > flate.BestCompression {
+		g.Level = flate.BestCompression
+	}
+	writer, _ := gzip.NewWriterLevel(nil, g.Level)
+	return writer
+}
+
+// Informed from http://blog.klauspost.com/gzip-performance-for-go-webservers/
+var defaultGzipLevel = 5
diff --git a/modules/caddyhttp/encode/zstd/zstd.go b/modules/caddyhttp/encode/zstd/zstd.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6afe53ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/caddyhttp/encode/zstd/zstd.go
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package caddystd
+
+import (
+	"github.com/caddyserver/caddy2"
+	"github.com/caddyserver/caddy2/modules/caddyhttp/encode"
+	"github.com/klauspost/compress/zstd"
+)
+
+func init() {
+	caddy2.RegisterModule(caddy2.Module{
+		Name: "http.encoders.zstd",
+		New:  func() interface{} { return new(Zstd) },
+	})
+}
+
+// Zstd can create zstd encoders.
+type Zstd struct{}
+
+// NewEncoder returns a new gzip writer.
+func (z Zstd) NewEncoder() encode.Encoder {
+	writer, _ := zstd.NewWriter(nil)
+	return writer
+}