diff --git a/src/paperless/settings.py b/src/paperless/settings.py
index 917d1e64f..ce387be07 100644
--- a/src/paperless/settings.py
+++ b/src/paperless/settings.py
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ FORCE_SCRIPT_NAME = os.getenv("PAPERLESS_FORCE_SCRIPT_NAME")
 # Application definition
 
 INSTALLED_APPS = [
+    "whitenoise.runserver_nostatic",
 
     "django.contrib.auth",
     "django.contrib.contenttypes",
@@ -92,6 +93,7 @@ if os.getenv("PAPERLESS_INSTALLED_APPS"):
 
 MIDDLEWARE = [
     'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
+    'whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware',
     'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
     'corsheaders.middleware.CorsMiddleware',
     'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
@@ -101,6 +103,9 @@ MIDDLEWARE = [
     'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
 ]
 
+# Enable whitenoise compression and caching
+STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'whitenoise.storage.CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage'
+
 # We allow CORS from localhost:8080
 CORS_ORIGIN_WHITELIST = tuple(os.getenv("PAPERLESS_CORS_ALLOWED_HOSTS", "localhost:8080").split(","))