diff --git a/code/repo_sync b/code/repo_sync
index 6a3d30e..16fcd32 100755
--- a/code/repo_sync
+++ b/code/repo_sync
@@ -519,7 +519,6 @@ class ReplicationError(Exception):
     '''A custom error when replication fails'''
     pass
 
-
 def replicateURLtoFilesystem(full_url, root_dir=None,
                              base_url=None, copy_only_if_missing=False,
                              appendToFilename=''):
@@ -542,6 +541,7 @@ def replicateURLtoFilesystem(full_url, root_dir=None,
     local_file_path = os.path.join(root_dir, relative_url) + appendToFilename
     local_dir_path = os.path.dirname(local_file_path)
     if copy_only_if_missing and os.path.exists(local_file_path):
+        reposadocommon.createCompressedFileCopy(local_file_path, True)
         return local_file_path
     if not os.path.exists(local_dir_path):
         try:
@@ -552,6 +552,7 @@ def replicateURLtoFilesystem(full_url, root_dir=None,
         getURL(full_url, local_file_path)
     except CurlDownloadError, err:
         raise ReplicationError(err)
+    reposadocommon.createCompressedFileCopy(local_file_path)
     return local_file_path
 
 
diff --git a/code/reposadolib/reposadocommon.py b/code/reposadolib/reposadocommon.py
index 4d2ec90..c200bbe 100644
--- a/code/reposadolib/reposadocommon.py
+++ b/code/reposadolib/reposadocommon.py
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 import time
 import urlparse
 import warnings
+import gzip
 from xml.parsers.expat import ExpatError
 from xml.dom import minidom
 
@@ -275,6 +276,24 @@ def getDataFromPlist(filename):
         return {}
 
 
+def createCompressedFileCopy(local_file_path, copy_only_if_missing=False):
+    '''Creates a gzipped copy of the given file at the same location with .gz suffix'''
+    local_gz_file_path = local_file_path + '.gz'
+    if not (copy_only_if_missing and os.path.exists(local_gz_file_path)):
+        try:
+            f_in = open(local_file_path, 'rb')
+        except (OSError, IOError), err:
+            print_stderr('Error: could not open file at %s: %s' % (local_file_path, err))
+        try:
+            f_out = gzip.open(local_gz_file_path, 'wb')
+            f_out.writelines(f_in)
+            f_out.close()
+        except (OSError, IOError), err:
+            print_stderr('Error: could not create compressed file at %s: %s' % (local_gz_file_path, err))
+        finally:
+            f_in.close()
+
+
 def getDownloadStatus():
     '''Reads download status info from disk'''
     return getDataFromPlist('DownloadStatus.plist')
@@ -447,7 +466,7 @@ def writeBranchCatalogs(localcatalogpath):
                         product_key, branch, localcatalogname)
 
         plistlib.writePlist(catalog, branchcatalogpath)
-
+        createCompressedFileCopy(branchcatalogpath)
 
 def writeAllLocalCatalogs():
     '''Writes out all local and branch catalogs. Used when we purge products.'''
@@ -489,6 +508,7 @@ def writeLocalCatalogs(applecatalogpath):
     # write raw (unstable/development) catalog
     # with all downloaded Apple updates enabled
     plistlib.writePlist(catalog, localcatalogpath)
+    createCompressedFileCopy(localcatalogpath)
 
     # now write filtered catalogs (branches) based on this catalog
     writeBranchCatalogs(localcatalogpath)
diff --git a/docs/URL_rewrites.md b/docs/URL_rewrites.md
index fa98b5e..3d504c6 100644
--- a/docs/URL_rewrites.md
+++ b/docs/URL_rewrites.md
@@ -17,26 +17,32 @@ If you are using Apache2 as your webserver, you may be able to configure mod_rew
 
 Here is an example .htaccess file you could place at the root of your Reposado repo:
 
-	RewriteEngine On
-	Options FollowSymLinks
-	RewriteBase  /
-	RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/8
-	RewriteRule ^index(.*)\.sucatalog$ content/catalogs/index$1.sucatalog [L]
-	RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/9
-	RewriteRule ^index(.*)\.sucatalog$ content/catalogs/others/index-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog [L]
-	RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/10
-	RewriteRule ^index(.*)\.sucatalog$ content/catalogs/others/index-leopard-snowleopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog [L]
-	RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/11
-	RewriteRule ^index(.*)\.sucatalog$ content/catalogs/others/index-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog [L]
-	RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/12
-	RewriteRule ^index(.*)\.sucatalog$ content/catalogs/others/index-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog [L]
-	RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/13
-	RewriteRule ^index(.*)\.sucatalog$ content/catalogs/others/index-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog [L]
-	RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/14
-	RewriteRule ^index(.*)\.sucatalog$ content/catalogs/others/index-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog [L]
-	RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/15
-	RewriteRule ^index(.*)\.sucatalog$ content/catalogs/others/index-10.11-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog [L]
-
+        AddEncoding x-gzip .gz
+        AddType text/plain .gz
+		Options FollowSymLinks
+		RewriteEngine On
+		RewriteBase /
+		RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/16
+		RewriteRule ^/index(.*)\.sucatalog(\.gz)?$ /content/catalogs/others/index-10.12-10.11-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog$2 [S=8]
+		RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/15
+		RewriteRule ^/index(.*)\.sucatalog(\.gz)?$ /content/catalogs/others/index-10.11-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog$2 [S=7]
+		RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/14
+		RewriteRule ^/index(.*)\.sucatalog(\.gz)?$ /content/catalogs/others/index-10.10-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog$2 [S=6]
+		RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/13
+		RewriteRule ^/index(.*)\.sucatalog(\.gz)?$ /content/catalogs/others/index-10.9-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog$2 [S=5]
+		RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/12
+		RewriteRule ^/index(.*)\.sucatalog(\.gz)?$ /content/catalogs/others/index-mountainlion-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog$2 [S=4]
+		RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/11
+		RewriteRule ^/index(.*)\.sucatalog(\.gz)?$ /content/catalogs/others/index-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog$2 [S=3]
+		RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/10
+		RewriteRule ^/index(.*)\.sucatalog(\.gz)?$ /content/catalogs/others/index-leopard-snowleopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog$2 [S=2]
+		RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/9
+		RewriteRule ^/index(.*)\.sucatalog(\.gz)?$ /content/catalogs/others/index-leopard.merged-1$1.sucatalog$2 [S=1]
+		RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Darwin/8
+		RewriteRule ^/index(.*)\.sucatalog(\.gz)?$ /content/catalogs/index$1.sucatalog
+		RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Encoding} gzip
+		RewriteRule ^(.+\.(sucatalog|dist))$ $1.gz
+ 
 
 This requires Apache2 to be configured to actually pay attention to mod_rewrite rules in .htaccess files. See your Apache and mod_rewrite documentation for details.