diff --git a/include_dir/Cargo.toml b/include_dir/Cargo.toml
index c4ecd8de60..a684517985 100644
--- a/include_dir/Cargo.toml
+++ b/include_dir/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ rust-version = "1.56"
 [dependencies]
 glob = { version = "0.3", optional = true }
 include_dir_macros = { version = "^0.7.0", path = "../macros" }
+lz4-compression = "0.7.0"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 tempfile = "3"
@@ -22,6 +23,7 @@ tempfile = "3"
 default = []
 nightly = ["include_dir_macros/nightly"]
 metadata = ["include_dir_macros/metadata"]
+compress = ["include_dir_macros/compress"]
 
 [package.metadata.docs.rs]
 all-features = true
diff --git a/include_dir/src/file.rs b/include_dir/src/file.rs
index 3ccfc930b9..b15d782d97 100644
--- a/include_dir/src/file.rs
+++ b/include_dir/src/file.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@ use std::{
     path::Path,
 };
 
+#[cfg(feature = "compress")]
+use lz4_compression::decompress::decompress;
+
 /// A file with its contents stored in a `&'static [u8]`.
 #[derive(Clone, PartialEq, Eq)]
 pub struct File<'a> {
@@ -30,14 +33,28 @@ impl<'a> File<'a> {
     }
 
     /// The file's raw contents.
+    #[cfg(not(feature = "compress"))]
     pub fn contents(&self) -> &[u8] {
         self.contents
     }
 
+    /// The file's uncompressed raw contents.
+    #[cfg(feature = "compress")]
+    pub fn contents(&self) -> Vec<u8> {
+        decompress(self.contents).expect("Embeded file could not be decompressed")
+    }
+
     /// The file's contents interpreted as a string.
+    #[cfg(not(feature = "compress"))]
     pub fn contents_utf8(&self) -> Option<&str> {
         std::str::from_utf8(self.contents()).ok()
     }
+
+    /// The file's uncompressed contents interpreted as a string.
+    #[cfg(feature = "compress")]
+    pub fn contents_utf8(&self) -> Option<String> {
+        String::from_utf8(self.contents()).ok()
+    }
 }
 
 #[cfg(feature = "metadata")]
diff --git a/macros/Cargo.toml b/macros/Cargo.toml
index 663a80cea2..f17bc1422b 100644
--- a/macros/Cargo.toml
+++ b/macros/Cargo.toml
@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@ proc-macro = true
 [dependencies]
 proc-macro2 = "1"
 quote = "1"
+lz4-compression = "0.7.0"
 
 [features]
 nightly = []
 metadata = []
+compress = []
diff --git a/macros/src/lib.rs b/macros/src/lib.rs
index 1b36839987..a10d092c77 100644
--- a/macros/src/lib.rs
+++ b/macros/src/lib.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ use std::{
     time::SystemTime,
 };
 
+#[cfg(feature = "compress")]
+use lz4_compression::compress::compress;
+
 /// Embed the contents of a directory in your crate.
 #[proc_macro]
 pub fn include_dir(input: TokenStream) -> TokenStream {
@@ -76,6 +79,10 @@ fn expand_dir(root: &Path, path: &Path) -> proc_macro2::TokenStream {
 
 fn expand_file(root: &Path, path: &Path) -> proc_macro2::TokenStream {
     let contents = read_file(path);
+
+    #[cfg(feature = "compress")]
+    let contents = compress(&contents);
+
     let literal = Literal::byte_string(&contents);
 
     let normalized_path = normalize_path(root, path);