diff --git a/lib/filewatch/tail.rb b/lib/filewatch/tail.rb
index 6c27bfe..f3a7c7b 100644
--- a/lib/filewatch/tail.rb
+++ b/lib/filewatch/tail.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 require "filewatch/buftok"
 require "filewatch/watch"
+require "zlib"
+
 if RbConfig::CONFIG['host_os'] =~ /mswin|mingw|cygwin/
   require "filewatch/winhelper"
 end
@@ -30,6 +32,7 @@ def initialize(opts={})
         @logger.level = Logger::INFO
       end
       @files = {}
+      @gzip = {}
       @lastwarn = Hash.new { |h, k| h[k] = 0 }
       @buffers = {}
       @watch = FileWatch::Watch.new
@@ -95,6 +98,7 @@ def subscribe(&block)
           _read_file(path, &block)
           @files[path].close
           @files.delete(path)
+          @gzip.delete(path)
           @statcache.delete(path)
         else
           @logger.warn("unknown event type #{event} for #{path}")
@@ -123,6 +127,7 @@ def _open_file(path, event)
           @logger.debug("(warn supressed) failed to open #{path}: #{$!}")
         end
         @files.delete(path)
+        @gzip.delete(path)
         return false
       end
 
@@ -133,10 +138,10 @@ def _open_file(path, event)
         inode = [fileId, stat.dev_major, stat.dev_minor]
       else
         inode = [stat.ino.to_s, stat.dev_major, stat.dev_minor]
-        end
+      end
   
       @statcache[path] = inode
-
+      
       if @sincedb.member?(inode)
         last_size = @sincedb[inode]
         @logger.debug("#{path}: sincedb last value #{@sincedb[inode]}, cur size #{stat.size}")
@@ -148,40 +153,87 @@ def _open_file(path, event)
           @sincedb[inode] = 0
         end
       elsif event == :create_initial && @files[path]
-        # TODO(sissel): Allow starting at beginning of the file.
-        if @opts[:start_new_files_at] == :beginning
-          @logger.debug("#{path}: initial create, no sincedb, seeking to beginning of file")
-          @files[path].sysseek(0, IO::SEEK_SET)
-          @sincedb[inode] = 0
-        else 
-          # seek to end
-          @logger.debug("#{path}: initial create, no sincedb, seeking to end #{stat.size}")
-          @files[path].sysseek(stat.size, IO::SEEK_SET)
-          @sincedb[inode] = stat.size
+        _check_gzip_file(path, inode)
+        if !@gzip[path]
+          # TODO(sissel): Allow starting at beginning of the file.
+          if @opts[:start_new_files_at] == :beginning
+            @logger.debug("#{path}: initial create, no sincedb, seeking to beginning of file")
+            @files[path].sysseek(0, IO::SEEK_SET)
+            @sincedb[inode] = 0
+          else 
+            # seek to end
+            @logger.debug("#{path}: initial create, no sincedb, seeking to end #{stat.size}")
+            @files[path].sysseek(stat.size, IO::SEEK_SET)
+            @sincedb[inode] = stat.size
+          end
         end
       else
-        @logger.debug("#{path}: staying at position 0, no sincedb")
+        _check_gzip_file(path, inode)
+        if @gzip[path]
+          @logger.debug("#{path}: gzip file")
+        else
+          @logger.debug("#{path}: staying at position 0, no sincedb")
+        end
       end
 
       return true
     end # def _open_file
 
+    private
+    def _check_gzip_file(path, inode)
+      if path.end_with?('.gz')
+        # RFC1952 two first byte for gzip file is ID1 ID2 == 31=1f 139=8b
+        @opts[:start_new_files_at] = :beginning # force start to beginning
+        @files[path].sysseek(0, IO::SEEK_SET)
+        dataID1 = @files[path].getbyte()
+        dataID2 = @files[path].getbyte()
+        @gzip[path] = dataID1 == 31 and dataID2 == 139
+        @logger.debug("gzip flag #{@gzip[path]} #{dataID1} #{dataID2}")
+        @files[path].rewind
+        @sincedb[inode] = 0
+      end
+    end
+    
     private
     def _read_file(path, &block)
-      @buffers[path] ||= FileWatch::BufferedTokenizer.new
+      @logger.debug("_read_file gzip flag is #{@gzip[path]} for path #{path}")
+      if @gzip[path]
+        @buffers[path] ||= Zlib::GzipReader.new(@files[path])
+      else
+        @buffers[path] ||= FileWatch::BufferedTokenizer.new
+      end
 
       changed = false
-      loop do
-        begin
-          data = @files[path].sysread(32768)
-          changed = true
-          @buffers[path].extract(data).each do |line|
-            yield(path, line)
+      if @gzip[path]
+        loop do
+          begin
+            changed = true
+            @buffers[path].each_line do |line|
+              line = line.gsub(/\r?\n$/,'')
+              yield(path, line)
+            end
+            @sincedb[@statcache[path]] = @files[path].pos
+            if @buffers[path].eof?
+              break
+            end
+          rescue Zlib::Error, Zlib::GzipFile::Error => error
+            @logger.warn("Tail error on gz reading : #{error}")
+            break
+          end
+        end
+      else
+        loop do
+          begin
+            data = @files[path].sysread(32768)
+            changed = true
+            @buffers[path].extract(data).each do |line|
+              yield(path, line)
+            end
+  
+            @sincedb[@statcache[path]] = @files[path].pos
+          rescue Errno::EWOULDBLOCK, Errno::EINTR, EOFError
+            break
           end
-
-          @sincedb[@statcache[path]] = @files[path].pos
-        rescue Errno::EWOULDBLOCK, Errno::EINTR, EOFError
-          break
         end
       end