diff --git a/jwt/api_jwt.py b/jwt/api_jwt.py
index f04a88d4..7d2177bf 100644
--- a/jwt/api_jwt.py
+++ b/jwt/api_jwt.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import json
 import warnings
-import zlib
 from calendar import timegm
 from collections.abc import Iterable, Mapping
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
@@ -109,7 +108,7 @@ def decode_complete(
         try:
             payload = json.loads(decoded["payload"])
         except ValueError as e:
-            payload = self._decompress_payload(decoded["payload"], e)
+            raise DecodeError(f"Invalid payload string: {e}")
         if not isinstance(payload, dict):
             raise DecodeError("Invalid payload string: must be a json object")
 
@@ -119,26 +118,6 @@ def decode_complete(
         decoded["payload"] = payload
         return decoded
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def _decompress_payload(payload, e):
-        """
-        Smart Health cards use a raw-compressed (no header or crc) payload,
-        so before surfacing a UnicodeDecodeError, find out if it can be
-        uncompressed successfully
-        noinspection PyBroadException
-        """
-        if isinstance(e, UnicodeDecodeError):
-            try:
-                payload = json.loads(
-                    # wbits=-15 has zlib not worry about headers of crc's
-                    zlib.decompress(payload, wbits=-15).decode("utf-8")
-                )
-            except Exception:
-                payload = None
-        if payload is not None:
-            return payload
-        raise DecodeError(f"Invalid payload string: {e}")
-
     def decode(
         self,
         jwt: str,
diff --git a/tests/test_api_jwt.py b/tests/test_api_jwt.py
index 491ef9a1..84e41e0e 100644
--- a/tests/test_api_jwt.py
+++ b/tests/test_api_jwt.py
@@ -64,39 +64,6 @@ def test_decodes_complete_valid_jwt(self, jwt):
             ),
         }
 
-    def test_decodes_complete_valid_jwt_with_compressed_payload(self, jwt):
-        example_payload = {"hello": "world"}
-        example_secret = "secret"
-        # payload made with the pako (https://nodeca.github.io/pako/) library in Javascript:
-        # Buffer.from(pako.deflateRaw('{"hello": "world"}')).toString('base64')
-        example_jwt = (
-            b"eyJhbGciOiAiSFMyNTYiLCAidHlwIjogIkpXVCJ9"
-            b".q1bKSM3JyVeyUlAqzy/KSVGqBQA="
-            b".08wHYeuh1rJXmcBcMrz6NxmbxAnCQp2rGTKfRNIkxiw="
-        )
-        decoded = jwt.decode_complete(example_jwt, example_secret, algorithms=["HS256"])
-
-        assert decoded == {
-            "header": {"alg": "HS256", "typ": "JWT"},
-            "payload": example_payload,
-            "signature": (
-                b"\xd3\xcc\x07a\xeb\xa1\xd6\xb2W\x99\xc0\\2\xbc\xfa7"
-                b"\x19\x9b\xc4\t\xc2B\x9d\xab\x192\x9fD\xd2$\xc6,"
-            ),
-        }
-
-    def test_decodes_complete_valid_jwt_with_invalid_compressed_payload(self, jwt):
-        # payload made with the pako (https://nodeca.github.io/pako/) library in Javascript:
-        # Buffer.from(pako.deflateRaw('{"this is": "not valid" json')).toString('base64')
-        example_secret = "secret"
-        example_jwt = (
-            b"eyJhbGciOiAiSFMyNTYiLCAidHlwIjogIkpXVCJ9"
-            b".q1YqycgsVsgsVrJSUMrLL1EoS8zJTFFSyCrOzwMA"
-            b".SIAxephyoWBJrw+KdBfksJlhdg+mQtm+vjaRXV1qGJ4="
-        )
-        with pytest.raises(DecodeError):
-            jwt.decode_complete(example_jwt, example_secret, algorithms=["HS256"])
-
     def test_load_verify_valid_jwt(self, jwt):
         example_payload = {"hello": "world"}
         example_secret = "secret"