diff --git a/collection.go b/collection.go
index 5c9c893..b0765cd 100644
--- a/collection.go
+++ b/collection.go
@@ -15,11 +15,13 @@ import (
 type Collection struct {
 	Name string
 
+	metadata      map[string]string
+	documents     map[string]*Document
+	documentsLock sync.RWMutex
+	embed         EmbeddingFunc
+
 	persistDirectory string
-	metadata         map[string]string
-	documents        map[string]*Document
-	documentsLock    sync.RWMutex
-	embed            EmbeddingFunc
+	compress         bool
 
 	// ⚠️ When adding fields here, consider adding them to the persistence struct
 	// versions in [DB.Export] and [DB.Import] as well!
@@ -27,7 +29,7 @@ type Collection struct {
 
 // We don't export this yet to keep the API surface to the bare minimum.
 // Users create collections via [Client.CreateCollection].
-func newCollection(name string, metadata map[string]string, embed EmbeddingFunc, dbDir string) (*Collection, error) {
+func newCollection(name string, metadata map[string]string, embed EmbeddingFunc, dbDir string, compress bool) (*Collection, error) {
 	// We copy the metadata to avoid data races in case the caller modifies the
 	// map after creating the collection while we range over it.
 	m := make(map[string]string, len(metadata))
@@ -47,9 +49,13 @@ func newCollection(name string, metadata map[string]string, embed EmbeddingFunc,
 	if dbDir != "" {
 		safeName := hash2hex(name)
 		c.persistDirectory = filepath.Join(dbDir, safeName)
+		c.compress = compress
 		// Persist name and metadata
 		metadataPath := filepath.Join(c.persistDirectory, metadataFileName)
 		metadataPath += ".gob"
+		if c.compress {
+			metadataPath += ".gz"
+		}
 		pc := struct {
 			Name     string
 			Metadata map[string]string
@@ -57,7 +63,7 @@ func newCollection(name string, metadata map[string]string, embed EmbeddingFunc,
 			Name:     name,
 			Metadata: m,
 		}
-		err := persist(metadataPath, pc, false, "")
+		err := persist(metadataPath, pc, compress, "")
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("couldn't persist collection metadata: %w", err)
 		}
@@ -233,7 +239,10 @@ func (c *Collection) AddDocument(ctx context.Context, doc Document) error {
 		safeID := hash2hex(doc.ID)
 		docPath := filepath.Join(c.persistDirectory, safeID)
 		docPath += ".gob"
-		err := persist(docPath, doc, false, "")
+		if c.compress {
+			docPath += ".gz"
+		}
+		err := persist(docPath, doc, c.compress, "")
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("couldn't persist document: %w", err)
 		}
diff --git a/db.go b/db.go
index 6a6311c..518f1db 100644
--- a/db.go
+++ b/db.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"io/fs"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 )
 
@@ -24,9 +25,11 @@ type EmbeddingFunc func(ctx context.Context, text string) ([]float32, error)
 //	| DB |-----------| Collection |-----------| Document |
 //	+----+           +------------+           +----------+
 type DB struct {
-	collections      map[string]*Collection
-	collectionsLock  sync.RWMutex
+	collections     map[string]*Collection
+	collectionsLock sync.RWMutex
+
 	persistDirectory string
+	compress         bool
 
 	// ⚠️ When adding fields here, consider adding them to the persistence struct
 	// versions in [DB.Export] and [DB.Import] as well!
@@ -44,6 +47,7 @@ func NewDB() *DB {
 
 // NewPersistentDB creates a new persistent chromem-go DB.
 // If the path is empty, it defaults to "./chromem-go".
+// If compress is true, the files are compressed with gzip.
 //
 // The persistence covers the collections (including their documents) and the metadata.
 // However it doesn't cover the EmbeddingFunc, as functions can't be serialized.
@@ -58,7 +62,7 @@ func NewDB() *DB {
 // In addition to persistence for each added collection and document you can use
 // [DB.Export] and [DB.Import] to export and import the entire DB to/from a file,
 // which also works for the pure in-memory DB.
-func NewPersistentDB(path string) (*DB, error) {
+func NewPersistentDB(path string, compress bool) (*DB, error) {
 	if path == "" {
 		path = "./chromem-go"
 	} else {
@@ -66,9 +70,16 @@ func NewPersistentDB(path string) (*DB, error) {
 		path = filepath.Clean(path)
 	}
 
+	// We check for this file extension and skip others
+	ext := ".gob"
+	if compress {
+		ext += ".gz"
+	}
+
 	db := &DB{
-		persistDirectory: path,
 		collections:      make(map[string]*Collection),
+		persistDirectory: path,
+		compress:         compress,
 	}
 
 	// If the directory doesn't exist, create it and return an empty DB.
@@ -108,8 +119,9 @@ func NewPersistentDB(path string) (*DB, error) {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("couldn't read collection directory: %w", err)
 		}
 		c := &Collection{
-			persistDirectory: collectionPath,
 			documents:        make(map[string]*Document),
+			persistDirectory: collectionPath,
+			compress:         compress,
 			// We can fill Name and metadata only after reading
 			// the metadata.
 			// We can fill embed only when the user calls DB.GetCollection() or
@@ -124,7 +136,7 @@ func NewPersistentDB(path string) (*DB, error) {
 
 			fPath := filepath.Join(collectionPath, collectionDirEntry.Name())
 			// Differentiate between collection metadata, documents and other files.
-			if collectionDirEntry.Name() == metadataFileName+".gob" {
+			if collectionDirEntry.Name() == metadataFileName+ext {
 				// Read name and metadata
 				pc := struct {
 					Name     string
@@ -136,7 +148,7 @@ func NewPersistentDB(path string) (*DB, error) {
 				}
 				c.Name = pc.Name
 				c.metadata = pc.Metadata
-			} else if filepath.Ext(collectionDirEntry.Name()) == ".gob" {
+			} else if strings.HasSuffix(collectionDirEntry.Name(), ext) {
 				// Read document
 				d := &Document{}
 				err := read(fPath, d, "")
@@ -225,6 +237,7 @@ func (db *DB) Import(filePath string, encryptionKey string) error {
 		}
 		if db.persistDirectory != "" {
 			c.persistDirectory = filepath.Join(db.persistDirectory, hash2hex(pc.Name))
+			c.compress = db.compress
 		}
 		db.collections[c.Name] = c
 	}
@@ -303,7 +316,7 @@ func (db *DB) CreateCollection(name string, metadata map[string]string, embeddin
 	if embeddingFunc == nil {
 		embeddingFunc = NewEmbeddingFuncDefault()
 	}
-	collection, err := newCollection(name, metadata, embeddingFunc, db.persistDirectory)
+	collection, err := newCollection(name, metadata, embeddingFunc, db.persistDirectory, db.compress)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("couldn't create collection: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/db_test.go b/db_test.go
index 3c7ba80..fc0d230 100644
--- a/db_test.go
+++ b/db_test.go
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ func TestNewPersistentDB(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Fatal("expected path to not exist, got", err)
 		}
 
-		db, err := NewPersistentDB(path)
+		db, err := NewPersistentDB(path, false)
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatal("expected no error, got", err)
 		}
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ func TestNewPersistentDB(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		defer os.RemoveAll(path)
 
-		db, err := NewPersistentDB(path)
+		db, err := NewPersistentDB(path, false)
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatal("expected no error, got", err)
 		}
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ func TestNewPersistentDB_Errors(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		defer os.RemoveAll(f.Name())
 
-		_, err = NewPersistentDB(f.Name())
+		_, err = NewPersistentDB(f.Name(), false)
 		if err == nil {
 			t.Fatal("expected error, got nil")
 		}
diff --git a/examples/rag-wikipedia-ollama/main.go b/examples/rag-wikipedia-ollama/main.go
index ce1cc47..3b865da 100644
--- a/examples/rag-wikipedia-ollama/main.go
+++ b/examples/rag-wikipedia-ollama/main.go
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ func main() {
 	// Set up chromem-go with persistence, so that when the program restarts, the
 	// DB's data is still available.
 	log.Println("Setting up chromem-go...")
-	db, err := chromem.NewPersistentDB("./db")
+	db, err := chromem.NewPersistentDB("./db", false)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
diff --git a/examples/semantic-search-arxiv-openai/main.go b/examples/semantic-search-arxiv-openai/main.go
index c52c366..e3c9fd7 100644
--- a/examples/semantic-search-arxiv-openai/main.go
+++ b/examples/semantic-search-arxiv-openai/main.go
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ func main() {
 	// Set up chromem-go with persistence, so that when the program restarts, the
 	// DB's data is still available.
 	log.Println("Setting up chromem-go...")
-	db, err := chromem.NewPersistentDB("./db")
+	db, err := chromem.NewPersistentDB("./db", false)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}