diff --git a/nodewatcher/files/lib/ffnw/nodewatcher/nodewatcher.sh b/nodewatcher/files/lib/ffnw/nodewatcher/nodewatcher.sh
index 128621766640994c4cbb1bc5ea3da89cb9e712c8..92a60a3df698680a2a3ad5e278a3e6fa4b2f5416 100644
--- a/nodewatcher/files/lib/ffnw/nodewatcher/nodewatcher.sh
+++ b/nodewatcher/files/lib/ffnw/nodewatcher/nodewatcher.sh
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ crawl() {
 	DATA="<?xml version='1.0' standalone='yes'?><data><system_data>$SYSTEM_DATA</system_data><interface_data>$interface_data</interface_data><batman_adv_interfaces>$BATMAN_ADV_INTERFACES</batman_adv_interfaces><batman_adv_originators>$batman_adv_originators</batman_adv_originators><batman_adv_gateway_mode>$batman_adv_gateway_mode</batman_adv_gateway_mode><batman_adv_gateway_list>$batman_adv_gateway_list</batman_adv_gateway_list><client_count>$client_count</client_count></data>"
 
 	#write data to hxml file that provides the data on httpd
-	echo $DATA > $SCRIPT_DATA_FILE
+	echo $DATA | gzip > $SCRIPT_DATA_FILE
 }
 
 LANG=C