diff --git a/filters/builtin/compress.go b/filters/builtin/compress.go
index 72a8a80a0d..0b33163aa2 100644
--- a/filters/builtin/compress.go
+++ b/filters/builtin/compress.go
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/andybalholm/brotli"
+	kpflate "github.com/klauspost/compress/flate"
+	kpgzip "github.com/klauspost/compress/gzip"
 
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/zalando/skipper/filters"
@@ -342,12 +344,12 @@ func newEncoder(enc string, level int) (encoder, error) {
 		if level > gzip.BestCompression {
 			level = gzip.BestCompression
 		}
-		return gzip.NewWriterLevel(nil, level)
+		return kpgzip.NewWriterLevel(nil, level)
 	case "deflate":
 		if level > flate.BestCompression {
 			level = flate.BestCompression
 		}
-		return flate.NewWriter(nil, level)
+		return kpflate.NewWriter(nil, level)
 	default:
 		unsupported()
 		return nil, nil
diff --git a/filters/builtin/compress_test.go b/filters/builtin/compress_test.go
index b1c034ac62..f6e901e726 100644
--- a/filters/builtin/compress_test.go
+++ b/filters/builtin/compress_test.go
@@ -774,6 +774,12 @@ func TestPoolRelease(t *testing.T) {
 	wg.Wait()
 }
 
+func BenchmarkCompressDeflate0(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompress(b, 0, []string{"deflate"}) }
+func BenchmarkCompressDeflate2(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompress(b, 100, []string{"deflate"}) }
+func BenchmarkCompressDeflate4(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompress(b, 10000, []string{"deflate"}) }
+func BenchmarkCompressDeflate6(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompress(b, 1000000, []string{"deflate"}) }
+func BenchmarkCompressDeflate8(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompress(b, 100000000, []string{"deflate"}) }
+
 func BenchmarkCompressGzip0(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompress(b, 0, []string{"gzip,deflate"}) }
 func BenchmarkCompressGzip2(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompress(b, 100, []string{"gzip,deflate"}) }
 func BenchmarkCompressGzip4(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompress(b, 10000, []string{"gzip,deflate"}) }
@@ -786,6 +792,70 @@ func BenchmarkCompressBrotli4(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompress(b, 10000, []stri
 func BenchmarkCompressBrotli6(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompress(b, 1000000, []string{"br"}) }
 func BenchmarkCompressBrotli8(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompress(b, 100000000, []string{"br"}) }
 
+func benchmarkCompressJSON(b *testing.B, n int64, encoding []string) {
+	// Repeating JSON pattern — highly compressible, realistic payload
+	pattern := []byte(`{"id":12345,"name":"test-user","email":"user@example.com","active":true,"tags":["a","b"]},`)
+	buf := make([]byte, n)
+	for i := 0; i < len(buf); i += len(pattern) {
+		copy(buf[i:], pattern)
+	}
+
+	s := NewCompress()
+	f, _ := s.CreateFilter(nil)
+	b.RunParallel(func(pb *testing.PB) {
+		for pb.Next() {
+			body := io.NopCloser(bytes.NewReader(buf))
+			req := &http.Request{Header: http.Header{"Accept-Encoding": encoding}}
+			rsp := &http.Response{
+				Header: http.Header{"Content-Type": []string{"application/json"}},
+				Body:   body}
+			ctx := &filtertest.Context{
+				FRequest:  req,
+				FResponse: rsp}
+			f.Response(ctx)
+			_, err := io.ReadAll(rsp.Body)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatal(err)
+			}
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+func benchmarkCompressLevel(b *testing.B, n int64, level int, encoding []string) {
+	s := NewCompress()
+	f, _ := s.CreateFilter([]any{float64(level)})
+	b.RunParallel(func(pb *testing.PB) {
+		for pb.Next() {
+			body := io.NopCloser(&io.LimitedReader{R: rand.New(rand.NewSource(0)), N: n})
+			req := &http.Request{Header: http.Header{"Accept-Encoding": encoding}}
+			rsp := &http.Response{
+				Header: http.Header{"Content-Type": []string{"application/octet-stream"}},
+				Body:   body}
+			ctx := &filtertest.Context{
+				FRequest:  req,
+				FResponse: rsp}
+			f.Response(ctx)
+			_, err := io.ReadAll(rsp.Body)
+			if err != nil {
+				b.Fatal(err)
+			}
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+// JSON payload benchmarks (compressible data)
+func BenchmarkCompressGzipJSON4(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompressJSON(b, 10000, []string{"gzip"}) }
+func BenchmarkCompressGzipJSON6(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompressJSON(b, 1000000, []string{"gzip"}) }
+func BenchmarkCompressGzipJSON8(b *testing.B) { benchmarkCompressJSON(b, 100000000, []string{"gzip"}) }
+
+// Higher compression level (level 6 = DefaultCompression)
+func BenchmarkCompressGzipLevel6_4(b *testing.B) {
+	benchmarkCompressLevel(b, 10000, 6, []string{"gzip"})
+}
+func BenchmarkCompressGzipLevel6_6(b *testing.B) {
+	benchmarkCompressLevel(b, 1000000, 6, []string{"gzip"})
+}
+
 func BenchmarkCanEncodeEntity(b *testing.B) {
 	testCases := []struct {
 		name string
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index ce8fe3f266..830353f13e 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/google/uuid v1.6.0
 	github.com/hashicorp/memberlist v0.5.4
 	github.com/instana/go-sensor v1.73.1
+	github.com/klauspost/compress v1.18.5
 	github.com/lightstep/lightstep-tracer-go v0.26.0
 	github.com/miekg/dns v1.1.72
 	github.com/oklog/ulid v1.3.1
@@ -195,7 +196,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/itchyny/timefmt-go v0.1.7 // indirect
 	github.com/jmespath/go-jmespath v0.4.0 // indirect
 	github.com/josharian/intern v1.0.0 // indirect
-	github.com/klauspost/compress v1.18.2 // indirect
 	github.com/klauspost/pgzip v1.2.6 // indirect
 	github.com/lann/builder v0.0.0-20180802200727-47ae307949d0 // indirect
 	github.com/lann/ps v0.0.0-20150810152359-62de8c46ede0 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 7dc1e1f571..87c5fde31f 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -418,8 +418,8 @@ github.com/jung-kurt/gofpdf v1.0.3-0.20190309125859-24315acbbda5/go.mod h1:7Id9E
 github.com/kisielk/errcheck v1.2.0/go.mod h1:/BMXB+zMLi60iA8Vv6Ksmxu/1UDYcXs4uQLJ+jE2L00=
 github.com/kisielk/errcheck v1.5.0/go.mod h1:pFxgyoBC7bSaBwPgfKdkLd5X25qrDl4LWUI2bnpBCr8=
 github.com/kisielk/gotool v1.0.0/go.mod h1:XhKaO+MFFWcvkIS/tQcRk01m1F5IRFswLeQ+oQHNcck=
-github.com/klauspost/compress v1.18.2 h1:iiPHWW0YrcFgpBYhsA6D1+fqHssJscY/Tm/y2Uqnapk=
-github.com/klauspost/compress v1.18.2/go.mod h1:R0h/fSBs8DE4ENlcrlib3PsXS61voFxhIs2DeRhCvJ4=
+github.com/klauspost/compress v1.18.5 h1:/h1gH5Ce+VWNLSWqPzOVn6XBO+vJbCNGvjoaGBFW2IE=
+github.com/klauspost/compress v1.18.5/go.mod h1:cwPg85FWrGar70rWktvGQj8/hthj3wpl0PGDogxkrSQ=
 github.com/klauspost/cpuid/v2 v2.3.0 h1:S4CRMLnYUhGeDFDqkGriYKdfoFlDnMtqTiI/sFzhA9Y=
 github.com/klauspost/cpuid/v2 v2.3.0/go.mod h1:hqwkgyIinND0mEev00jJYCxPNVRVXFQeu1XKlok6oO0=
 github.com/klauspost/pgzip v1.2.6 h1:8RXeL5crjEUFnR2/Sn6GJNWtSQ3Dk8pq4CL3jvdDyjU=