diff --git a/lib/request/request.js b/lib/request/request.js
index 9e0347bfdec..c32ca13b3b5 100644
--- a/lib/request/request.js
+++ b/lib/request/request.js
@@ -18,25 +18,25 @@ var analytics = require('../analytics');
 function makeRequest(payload) {
   return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
     var body = payload.body;
-    var bodyStream;
+    var data;
 
     delete payload.body;
 
     if (body) {
-      // always compress going upstream
-      bodyStream = new stream.Readable();
       var json = JSON.stringify(body);
-      bodyStream.push(json);
-      bodyStream.push(null);
-      bodyStream = bodyStream.pipe(zlib.createGzip());
+      if (json.length < 1e4) {
+        debug(JSON.stringify(body, '', 2));
+      }
+
+      // always compress going upstream
+      data = zlib.gzipSync(json);
 
       snykDebug('sending request to:', payload.url);
       snykDebug('request body size:', json.length);
+      snykDebug('gzipped request body size:', data.length);
       if (!payload.url.endsWith('/analytics/cli')) {
         analytics.add('payloadSize', json.length);
-      }
-      if (json.length < 1e4) {
-        debug(JSON.stringify(body, '', 2));
+        analytics.add('gzippedPayloadSize', data.length);
       }
 
       if (!payload.headers) {
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ function makeRequest(payload) {
       }
 
       payload.headers['content-encoding'] = 'gzip';
+      payload.headers['content-length'] = data.length;
     }
 
     var url = parse(payload.url);
@@ -89,7 +90,7 @@ function makeRequest(payload) {
       options.rejectUnauthorized = false;
     }
 
-    needle.request(method, url, bodyStream, options, function (err, res, body) {
+    needle.request(method, url, data, options, function (err, res, body) {
       debug(err);
       debug('response (%s): ', (res || {}).statusCode, JSON.stringify(body));
       if (err) {