Contrary to what the documentation says, I've been unable to get zlib.output_compression to work via ini_set() (Even though I put it at the very beginning of the file before any output was sent) as of php 4.3.11.  While it does get set to true, it will not actually do anything. Which means if you don't set this via php.ini or Apache configuration it's a no-go. I have to use ob_start("ob_gzhandler"); instead.