diff --git a/.changelog/20345.txt b/.changelog/20345.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b2fcc5271f0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/20345.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+  audit-logs: **(Enterprise Only)** Fixes non ASCII characters in audit logs because of gzip.
+```
diff --git a/agent/http.go b/agent/http.go
index 34a92cecd57c..d828ed04c10e 100644
--- a/agent/http.go
+++ b/agent/http.go
@@ -188,7 +188,9 @@ func (s *HTTPHandlers) handler() http.Handler {
 		// Register the wrapper.
 		wrapper := func(resp http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 			start := time.Now()
-			handler(resp, req)
+
+			// this method is implemented by different flavours of consul e.g. oss, ce. ent.
+			s.enterpriseRequest(resp, req, handler)
 
 			labels := []metrics.Label{{Name: "method", Value: req.Method}, {Name: "path", Value: path_label}}
 			metrics.MeasureSinceWithLabels([]string{"api", "http"}, start, labels)
@@ -313,7 +315,6 @@ func (s *HTTPHandlers) handler() http.Handler {
 		h = mux
 	}
 
-	h = s.enterpriseHandler(h)
 	h = withRemoteAddrHandler(h)
 	s.h = &wrappedMux{
 		mux:     mux,
diff --git a/agent/http_ce.go b/agent/http_ce.go
index da6bef723776..0259dc738fb4 100644
--- a/agent/http_ce.go
+++ b/agent/http_ce.go
@@ -95,9 +95,9 @@ func parseACLAuthMethodEnterpriseMeta(req *http.Request, _ *structs.ACLAuthMetho
 	return nil
 }
 
-// enterpriseHandler is a noop for the enterprise implementation. we pass the original back
-func (s *HTTPHandlers) enterpriseHandler(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
-	return next
+func (s *HTTPHandlers) enterpriseRequest(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request, handler func(http.ResponseWriter, *http.Request)) {
+	// no special handling for CE. Calling the default handler with default params.
+	handler(w, req)
 }
 
 // uiTemplateDataTransform returns an optional uiserver.UIDataTransform to allow