diff --git a/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/DefaultServlet.java b/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/DefaultServlet.java
index 0c317345639e..b580148be212 100644
--- a/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/DefaultServlet.java
+++ b/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/DefaultServlet.java
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ private CompressedContentFormat[] parsePrecompressedFormats(String precompressed
                 String encoding = setting[0].trim();
                 String extension = setting[1].trim();
                 ret.add(new CompressedContentFormat(encoding, extension));
-                if (gzip && !ret.contains(CompressedContentFormat.GZIP))
+                if (gzip == Boolean.TRUE && !ret.contains(CompressedContentFormat.GZIP))
                     ret.add(CompressedContentFormat.GZIP);
             }
         }
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ else if (precompressed != null)
                 ret.add(CompressedContentFormat.GZIP);
             }
         }
-        else if (gzip)
+        else if (gzip == Boolean.TRUE)
         {
             // gzip handling is for backwards compatibility with older Jetty
             ret.add(CompressedContentFormat.GZIP);