diff --git a/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/DownloadDialog.spec.tsx b/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/DownloadDialog.spec.tsx
index 12bc6309b..d45bc9767 100644
--- a/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/DownloadDialog.spec.tsx
+++ b/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/DownloadDialog.spec.tsx
@@ -84,13 +84,15 @@ describe('DownloadDialog', () => {
 
         await userEvent.click(screen.getByLabelText(/Yes, include older versions/));
         await userEvent.click(screen.getByLabelText(/Raw nucleotide sequences/));
+        await userEvent.click(screen.getByLabelText(/Gzip/));
         expect(getDownloadHref()).toBe(
-            `${defaultLapisUrl}/sample/unalignedNucleotideSequences?downloadAsFile=true&dataUseTerms=OPEN&field1=value1`,
+            `${defaultLapisUrl}/sample/unalignedNucleotideSequences?downloadAsFile=true&dataUseTerms=OPEN&compression=gzip&field1=value1`,
         );
 
         await userEvent.click(screen.getByLabelText(/include restricted data/));
+        await userEvent.click(screen.getByLabelText(/Zstandard/));
         expect(getDownloadHref()).toBe(
-            `${defaultLapisUrl}/sample/unalignedNucleotideSequences?downloadAsFile=true&field1=value1`,
+            `${defaultLapisUrl}/sample/unalignedNucleotideSequences?downloadAsFile=true&compression=zstd&field1=value1`,
         );
     });
 });
diff --git a/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/DownloadForm.tsx b/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/DownloadForm.tsx
index 23a9cdb4b..81f9f25a9 100644
--- a/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/DownloadForm.tsx
+++ b/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/DownloadForm.tsx
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ export const DownloadForm: FC<DownloadFormProps> = ({ referenceGenomesSequenceNa
     const [includeRestricted, setIncludeRestricted] = useState(0);
     const [includeOldData, setIncludeOldData] = useState(0);
     const [dataType, setDataType] = useState(0);
+    const [compression, setCompression] = useState(0);
     const [unalignedNucleotideSequence, setUnalignedNucleotideSequence] = useState(0);
     const [alignedNucleotideSequence, setAlignedNucleotideSequence] = useState(0);
     const [alignedAminoAcidSequence, setAlignedAminoAcidSequence] = useState(0);
@@ -50,14 +51,17 @@ export const DownloadForm: FC<DownloadFormProps> = ({ referenceGenomesSequenceNa
             default:
                 throw new Error(`Invalid state error: DownloadForm dataType=${dataType}`);
         }
+        const compressionOptions = [undefined, 'zstd', 'gzip'] as const;
         onChange({
             dataType: downloadDataType,
             includeOldData: includeOldData === 1,
             includeRestricted: includeRestricted === 1,
+            compression: compressionOptions[compression],
         });
     }, [
         includeRestricted,
         includeOldData,
+        compression,
         dataType,
         unalignedNucleotideSequence,
         alignedNucleotideSequence,
@@ -161,6 +165,13 @@ export const DownloadForm: FC<DownloadFormProps> = ({ referenceGenomesSequenceNa
                 selected={dataType}
                 onSelect={setDataType}
             />
+            <RadioOptionBlock
+                name='compression'
+                title='Compression'
+                options={[{ label: <>None</> }, { label: <>Zstandard</> }, { label: <>Gzip</> }]}
+                selected={compression}
+                onSelect={setCompression}
+            />
         </div>
     );
 };
diff --git a/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/OptionBlock.tsx b/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/OptionBlock.tsx
index 5fe902f3a..89f6b9d02 100644
--- a/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/OptionBlock.tsx
+++ b/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/OptionBlock.tsx
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ export const RadioOptionBlock: FC<OptionBlockProps> = ({
     disabled = false,
 }) => {
     return (
-        <div className='max-w-80'>
+        <div className='max-w-80 basis-1/3'>
             {title !== undefined && <h4 className='font-bold'>{title}</h4>}
             {options.map((option, index) => (
                 <div key={index}>
diff --git a/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/generateDownloadUrl.ts b/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/generateDownloadUrl.ts
index d66cb91d0..413d94942 100644
--- a/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/generateDownloadUrl.ts
+++ b/website/src/components/SearchPage/DownloadDialog/generateDownloadUrl.ts
@@ -8,10 +8,13 @@ export type DownloadDataType =
     | { type: 'alignedNucleotideSequences'; segment: string | undefined }
     | { type: 'alignedAminoAcidSequences'; gene: string };
 
+export type Compression = 'zstd' | 'gzip' | undefined;
+
 export type DownloadOption = {
     includeOldData: boolean;
     includeRestricted: boolean;
     dataType: DownloadDataType;
+    compression: Compression;
 };
 
 export const generateDownloadUrl = (
@@ -33,6 +36,9 @@ export const generateDownloadUrl = (
     if (option.dataType.type === 'metadata') {
         params.set('dataFormat', metadataDefaultDownloadDataFormat);
     }
+    if (option.compression !== undefined) {
+        params.set('compression', option.compression);
+    }
     for (const { name, filterValue } of metadataFilter) {
         if (filterValue.trim().length > 0) {
             params.set(name, filterValue);