diff --git a/docs/configuration.md b/docs/configuration.md
index 6e210a720..27b3f1b28 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/configuration.md
@@ -762,7 +762,7 @@ should be a valid crontab(5) expression describing when to run.
 
 : Enables compression of the responses from the webserver.
 
-: Defaults to 0, disabling compression.
+: Defaults to 1, enabling compression.
 
     !!! note
 
diff --git a/src/paperless/settings.py b/src/paperless/settings.py
index b94ead3b9..5cac5e621 100644
--- a/src/paperless/settings.py
+++ b/src/paperless/settings.py
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ MIDDLEWARE = [
 ]
 
 # Optional to enable compression
-if __get_boolean("PAPERLESS_ENABLE_COMPRESSION"):
+if __get_boolean("PAPERLESS_ENABLE_COMPRESSION", "yes"):  # pragma: nocover
     MIDDLEWARE.insert(0, "compression_middleware.middleware.CompressionMiddleware")
 
 ROOT_URLCONF = "paperless.urls"