diff --git a/disco/gateway/client.py b/disco/gateway/client.py
index 6b3f7b7..bb44a94 100644
--- a/disco/gateway/client.py
+++ b/disco/gateway/client.py
@@ -11,16 +11,18 @@ from disco.util.logging import LoggingClass
 from disco.util.limiter import SimpleLimiter
 
 TEN_MEGABYTES = 10490000
+ZLIB_SUFFIX = b'\x00\x00\xff\xff'
 
 
 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_stream_enabled=True, ipc=None):
         super(GatewayClient, self).__init__()
         self.client = client
         self.max_reconnects = max_reconnects
         self.encoder = ENCODERS[encoder]
+        self.zlib_stream_enabled = zlib_stream_enabled
 
         self.events = client.events
         self.packets = client.packets
@@ -47,6 +49,8 @@ class GatewayClient(LoggingClass):
         # Websocket connection
         self.ws = None
         self.ws_event = gevent.event.Event()
+        self._zlib = None
+        self._buffer = None
 
         # State
         self.seq = 0
@@ -122,6 +126,9 @@ class GatewayClient(LoggingClass):
 
         gateway_url += '?v={}&encoding={}'.format(self.GATEWAY_VERSION, self.encoder.TYPE)
 
+        if self.zlib_stream_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 +139,25 @@ 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_stream_enabled:
+            if not self._buffer:
+                self._buffer = bytearray()
+
+            self._buffer.extend(msg)
+
+            if len(msg) < 4:
+                return
+
+            if msg[-4:] != ZLIB_SUFFIX:
+                return
+
+            msg = self._zlib.decompress(self._buffer if six.PY3 else str(self._buffer)).decode('utf-8')
+            self._buffer = None
+        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)
@@ -157,6 +179,9 @@ class GatewayClient(LoggingClass):
         raise Exception('WS recieved error: %s', error)
 
     def on_open(self):
+        if self.zlib_stream_enabled:
+            self._zlib = zlib.decompressobj()
+
         if self.seq and self.session_id:
             self.log.info('WS Opened: attempting resume w/ SID: %s SEQ: %s', self.session_id, self.seq)
             self.replaying = True
@@ -184,6 +209,9 @@ class GatewayClient(LoggingClass):
             })
 
     def on_close(self, code, reason):
+        # Make sure we cleanup any old data
+        self._buffer = None
+
         # Kill heartbeater, a reconnect/resume will trigger a HELLO which will
         #  respawn it
         if self._heartbeat_task: