Enable compressed request handling in ASP.NET Core 7 with request decompression middleware. Here’s how.
Minimal APIs in ASP.NET Core provide a streamlined way to build RESTful APIs with minimal overhead, reducing the need for excessive configuration and code. A critical aspect of modern API development is optimizing the amount of data transferred over networks, which can improve application performance and save bandwidth. One common strategy is compressing payloads, not just for responses, but also for incoming requests.
In scenarios where the client sends compressed requests to minimize data usage, the server needs to decompress these payloads before processing them. Fortunately, ASP.NET Core 7 introduces request decompression middleware, which automatically handles this process, allowing your API endpoints to accept compressed request data seamlessly.
This article dives into how to implement request decompression middleware in ASP.NET Core 7, particularly in Minimal APIs. We’ll discuss the benefits of using compression and decompression, how to enable request decompression in your API, and some best practices to keep in mind when handling compressed content. If you missed our previous article, where we covered response compression, you may want to check that out for a complete picture of compression handling in ASP.NET Core.
Request decompression is vital in reducing the load on your server when clients send compressed requests. Without it, compressed payloads would be unusable by your endpoints, forcing clients to send uncompressed data. This new feature in ASP.NET Core 7 not only improves API flexibility but also enhances the overall performance of your application.
To follow along with the examples in this article, you should have Visual Studio 2022 installed. If you haven’t yet installed it, you can download it from Microsoft’s official site. We’ll walk you through how to set up and configure the request decompression middleware in a Minimal API project and ensure that your endpoints are ready to handle compressed content effectively.