diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2a36063a27..b15206cfa7 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -272,25 +272,10 @@ LYX_CHECK_DECL(mkstemp,[unistd.h stdlib.h])
 # Check the form of mkdir()
 AC_FUNC_MKDIR
 
-AC_ARG_ENABLE(compression-support, AC_HELP_STRING([--enable-compression-support],[Support for compressed files.]),[
-    case "${enableval}" in
-	yes) use_compression=true ;;
-	no) use_compression=false ;;
-	*) AC_MSG_ERROR(bad value ${enableval} for --enable-compression-support) ;;
-    esac
-],[use_compression=true])
-if test $use_compression=true ; then
-	AC_CHECK_HEADERS(zlib.h, use_compression=true, use_compression=false)
-	AC_CHECK_LIB(z, gzopen,[use_compression=true;LIBS="$LIBS -lz"], use_compression=false)
-	if test $use_compression = true ; then
-		AC_DEFINE(USE_COMPRESSION, 1, [Define as 1 if you want to support compressed files.])
-		lyx_flags="compression $lyx_flags"
-	fi
-fi
-AM_CONDITIONAL(USE_COMPRESSION, test x$use_compression = xtrue)
-AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether to support compressed files])
-AC_MSG_RESULT($use_compression)
-
+# check for compression support
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS(zlib.h,
+ [AC_CHECK_LIB(z, gzopen, [LIBS="$LIBS -lz"], LYX_ERROR([zlib not found!]))],
+ [LYX_ERROR([zlib.h not found!])])
 
 dnl This is a slight hack: the tests generated by autoconf 2.52 do not
 dnl work correctly because of some conflict with stdlib.h with g++ 2.96
diff --git a/src/buffer.C b/src/buffer.C
index 13a1b7dbd6..4ed770eb06 100644
--- a/src/buffer.C
+++ b/src/buffer.C
@@ -68,12 +68,10 @@
 #include "support/lyxalgo.h"
 #include "support/filetools.h"
 #include "support/fs_extras.h"
-#ifdef USE_COMPRESSION
 # include <boost/iostreams/filtering_stream.hpp>
 # include <boost/iostreams/filter/gzip.hpp>
 # include <boost/iostreams/device/file.hpp>
 namespace io = boost::iostreams;
-#endif
 #include "support/lyxlib.h"
 #include "support/os.h"
 #include "support/path.h"
@@ -737,15 +735,11 @@ bool Buffer::writeFile(string const & fname) const
 	bool retval = false;
 
 	if (params().compressed) {
-#ifdef USE_COMPRESSION
 		io::filtering_ostream ofs(io::gzip_compressor() | io::file_sink(fname));
 		if (!ofs)
 			return false;
 
 		retval = do_writeFile(ofs);
-#else
-		return false;
-#endif
 	} else {
 		ofstream ofs(fname.c_str(), ios::out|ios::trunc);
 		if (!ofs)
diff --git a/src/lyxlex_pimpl.C b/src/lyxlex_pimpl.C
index 853b007f82..481c579c9b 100644
--- a/src/lyxlex_pimpl.C
+++ b/src/lyxlex_pimpl.C
@@ -140,7 +140,6 @@ bool LyXLex::Pimpl::setFile(string const & filename)
 	if (format == "gzip" || format == "zip" || format == "compress") {
 		lyxerr[Debug::LYXLEX] << "lyxlex: compressed" << endl;
 
-#ifdef USE_COMPRESSION
 		// The check only outputs a debug message, because it triggers
 		// a bug in compaq cxx 6.2, where is_open() returns 'true' for
 		// a fresh new filebuf.  (JMarc)
@@ -153,9 +152,6 @@ bool LyXLex::Pimpl::setFile(string const & filename)
 		name = filename;
 		lineno = 0;
 		return gz_.component<io::file_source>(1)->is_open() && is.good();
-#else
-		return false;
-#endif
 	} else {
 		lyxerr[Debug::LYXLEX] << "lyxlex: UNcompressed" << endl;
 
diff --git a/src/lyxlex_pimpl.h b/src/lyxlex_pimpl.h
index e449c8b08e..1a9a06c89c 100644
--- a/src/lyxlex_pimpl.h
+++ b/src/lyxlex_pimpl.h
@@ -14,12 +14,10 @@
 
 #include "lyxlex.h"
 
-#ifdef USE_COMPRESSION
 # include <boost/iostreams/filtering_streambuf.hpp>
 # include <boost/iostreams/filter/gzip.hpp>
 # include <boost/iostreams/device/file.hpp>
 namespace io = boost::iostreams;
-#endif
 
 #include <boost/utility.hpp>
 
@@ -64,10 +62,8 @@ public:
 	/// fb_ is only used to open files, the stream is accessed through is.
 	std::filebuf fb_;
 
-#ifdef USE_COMPRESSION
 	/// gz_ is only used to open files, the stream is accessed through is.
 	io::filtering_istreambuf gz_;
-#endif
 
 	/// the stream that we use.
 	std::istream is;
diff --git a/src/tex2lyx/Makefile.am b/src/tex2lyx/Makefile.am
index f54094cb79..2a0935ac77 100644
--- a/src/tex2lyx/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/tex2lyx/Makefile.am
@@ -20,9 +20,7 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS += $(PCH_FLAGS) -I$(srcdir)/.. $(BOOST_INCLUDES)
 
 BOOST_LIBS = $(BOOST_REGEX) $(BOOST_FILESYSTEM) $(BOOST_IOSTREAMS)
 
-if USE_COMPRESSION
 COMPRESSIONLIB = -lz
-endif
 
 LINKED_FILES = \
 	FloatList.C \