diff --git a/authors/settings/base.py b/authors/settings/base.py
index 84ac770..803a6a3 100644
--- a/authors/settings/base.py
+++ b/authors/settings/base.py
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 
 MIDDLEWARE = [
     'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
+    'whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware',
     'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
     'corsheaders.middleware.CorsMiddleware',
     'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
diff --git a/authors/settings/production.py b/authors/settings/production.py
index d57372d..755e9ec 100644
--- a/authors/settings/production.py
+++ b/authors/settings/production.py
@@ -11,3 +11,6 @@
 DATABASES = {
     'default': dj_database_url.config(env='DATABASE_URL', engine='django.db.backends.postgresql')
 }
+
+# allow static file compression
+STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'whitenoise.storage.CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage'
diff --git a/authors/settings/staging.py b/authors/settings/staging.py
index 5564b27..0ce3c11 100644
--- a/authors/settings/staging.py
+++ b/authors/settings/staging.py
@@ -11,3 +11,6 @@
 DATABASES = {
     'default': dj_database_url.config(env='STAGING_DATABASE_URL', engine='django.db.backends.postgresql')
 }
+
+# allow static file compression
+STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'whitenoise.storage.CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage'
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 9317ae7..4af90c1 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -26,3 +26,4 @@ ruamel.yaml==0.15.87
 six==1.12.0
 uritemplate==3.0.0
 urllib3==1.24.1
+whitenoise==4.1.2