diff --git a/disco/gateway/client.py b/disco/gateway/client.py
index f0e8869..03a9681 100644
--- a/disco/gateway/client.py
+++ b/disco/gateway/client.py
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
+import struct
 import gevent
+import array
 import zlib
 import six
 import ssl
@@ -11,16 +13,18 @@ from disco.util.logging import LoggingClass
 from disco.util.limiter import SimpleLimiter
 
 TEN_MEGABYTES = 10490000
+ZLIB_SUFFIX = 0xffff
 
 
 class GatewayClient(LoggingClass):
     GATEWAY_VERSION = 6
 
-    def __init__(self, client, max_reconnects=5, encoder='json', ipc=None):
+    def __init__(self, client, max_reconnects=5, encoder='json', zlib_enabled=True, ipc=None):
         super(GatewayClient, self).__init__()
         self.client = client
         self.max_reconnects = max_reconnects
         self.encoder = ENCODERS[encoder]
+        self.zlib_enabled = zlib_enabled
 
         self.events = client.events
         self.packets = client.packets
@@ -47,6 +51,8 @@ class GatewayClient(LoggingClass):
         # Websocket connection
         self.ws = None
         self.ws_event = gevent.event.Event()
+        self._zlib = zlib.decompressobj()
+        self._buffer = array.array('c')
 
         # State
         self.seq = 0
@@ -122,6 +128,9 @@ class GatewayClient(LoggingClass):
 
         gateway_url += '?v={}&encoding={}'.format(self.GATEWAY_VERSION, self.encoder.TYPE)
 
+        if self.zlib_enabled:
+            gateway_url += '&compress=zlib-stream'
+
         self.log.info('Opening websocket connection to URL `%s`', gateway_url)
         self.ws = Websocket(gateway_url)
         self.ws.emitter.on('on_open', self.on_open)
@@ -132,10 +141,21 @@ class GatewayClient(LoggingClass):
         self.ws.run_forever(sslopt={"cert_reqs": ssl.CERT_NONE})
 
     def on_message(self, msg):
-        # Detect zlib and decompress
-        is_erlpack = ((six.PY2 and ord(msg[0]) == 131) or (six.PY3 and msg[0] == 131))
-        if msg[0] != '{' and not is_erlpack:
-            msg = zlib.decompress(msg, 15, TEN_MEGABYTES).decode("utf-8")
+        if self.zlib_enabled:
+            self._buffer.extend(msg)
+
+            if len(msg) >= 4:
+                suffix = struct.unpack('>I', msg[-4:])[0]
+                if suffix == ZLIB_SUFFIX:
+                    msg = self._zlib.decompress(self._buffer.tostring()).decode('utf-8')
+                    self._buffer = array.array('c')
+            else:
+                return
+        else:
+            # Detect zlib and decompress
+            is_erlpack = ((six.PY2 and ord(msg[0]) == 131) or (six.PY3 and msg[0] == 131))
+            if msg[0] != '{' and not is_erlpack:
+                msg = zlib.decompress(msg, 15, TEN_MEGABYTES).decode("utf-8")
 
         try:
             data = self.encoder.decode(msg)