diff --git a/lib/ldclient-rb/config.rb b/lib/ldclient-rb/config.rb
index bc116471..a3cd0331 100644
--- a/lib/ldclient-rb/config.rb
+++ b/lib/ldclient-rb/config.rb
@@ -281,11 +281,11 @@ def offline?
     attr_reader :send_events
 
     #
-    # Should the event payload sent to LaunchDarkly use gzip compression. By default this is false to prevent backward
-    # breaking compatibility issues with older versions of the relay proxy.
+    # Should the event payload sent to LaunchDarkly use gzip compression. The default is true.
     #
-    # Customers not using the relay proxy are strongly encouraged to enable this feature to reduce egress bandwidth
-    # cost.
+    # Relay Proxy versions before 8.9 cannot accept compressed events. If you send events through the Relay Proxy,
+    # set this to false. Older Relay Proxy versions cannot decode compressed payloads. Newer versions decode and
+    # compress the payloads again, which adds CPU overhead.
     #
     # @return [Boolean]
     #
@@ -622,10 +622,10 @@ def self.default_send_events
 
     #
     # The default value for {#compress_events}.
-    # @return [Boolean] false
+    # @return [Boolean] true
     #
     def self.default_compress_events
-      false
+      true
     end
 
     #
diff --git a/spec/config_spec.rb b/spec/config_spec.rb
index eb11a3de..a28cd334 100644
--- a/spec/config_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/config_spec.rb
@@ -135,6 +135,14 @@ module LaunchDarkly
         expect(subject.new(omit_anonymous_contexts: true).omit_anonymous_contexts).to eq true
       end
     end
+    describe ".compress_events" do
+      it "defaults to true" do
+        expect(subject.new.compress_events).to eq true
+      end
+      it "can be set to false" do
+        expect(subject.new(compress_events: false).compress_events).to eq false
+      end
+    end
     describe ".private_attributes" do
       it "defaults to an empty set" do
         expect(subject.new.private_attributes).to eq Set.new
diff --git a/spec/http_util.rb b/spec/http_util.rb
index 3198cdcb..37b466dc 100644
--- a/spec/http_util.rb
+++ b/spec/http_util.rb
@@ -7,8 +7,7 @@
 class StubHTTPServer
   attr_reader :requests, :port
 
-  def initialize(enable_compression: false)
-    @enable_compression = enable_compression
+  def initialize
     base_opts = {
       BindAddress: '127.0.0.1',
       Port: 0,  # Let OS assign an available port
@@ -70,7 +69,7 @@ def await_request_with_body
     request = r[0]
     body = r[1]
 
-    return [request, body.to_s] unless @enable_compression
+    return [request, body.to_s] unless request.header['content-encoding'] == ['gzip']
 
     gz = Zlib::GzipReader.new(StringIO.new(body.to_s))
 
@@ -84,8 +83,8 @@ def method_missing(*)
   end
 end
 
-def with_server(enable_compression: false)
-  server = StubHTTPServer.new(enable_compression: enable_compression)
+def with_server
+  server = StubHTTPServer.new
   begin
     server.start
     yield server
diff --git a/spec/impl/event_sender_spec.rb b/spec/impl/event_sender_spec.rb
index 0e82eb21..5760e94b 100644
--- a/spec/impl/event_sender_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/impl/event_sender_spec.rb
@@ -42,8 +42,7 @@ def make_sender(config_options = {})
       end
 
       def with_sender_and_server(config_options = {})
-        enable_compression = config_options[:compress_events] || false
-        with_server(enable_compression: enable_compression) do |server|
+        with_server do |server|
           config_options[:events_uri] = server.base_uri.to_s
           yield make_sender(config_options), server
         end
@@ -101,6 +100,19 @@ def with_sender_and_server(config_options = {})
         end
       end
 
+      it "sends analytics event data with compression by default" do
+        with_sender_and_server do |es, server|
+          server.setup_ok_response("/bulk", "")
+
+          result = es.send_event_data(fake_data, "", false)
+
+          expect(result.success).to be true
+          req, body = server.await_request_with_body
+          expect(body).to eq fake_data
+          expect(req.header['content-encoding']).to eq [ "gzip" ]
+        end
+      end
+
       it "can use a socket factory" do
         with_server do |server|
           server.setup_ok_response("/bulk", "")