diff --git a/release/Makefile b/release/Makefile
index b3c119182964..24b6049a83fe 100644
--- a/release/Makefile
+++ b/release/Makefile
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
 #  NOSRC:    if set, do not distribute source tree
 #  NODOC:    if set, do not generate release documentation
 #  WITH_DVD: if set, generate dvd1.iso
+#  WITH_COMPRESSED_IMAGES: if set, compress installation images with gzip(1)
+#		(uncompressed images are not removed)
 #  TARGET/TARGET_ARCH: architecture of built release 
 #
 
@@ -251,6 +253,9 @@ install:
 	cp -a ftp ${DESTDIR}/
 .for I in ${IMAGES}
 	cp -p ${I} ${DESTDIR}/${OSRELEASE}-${I}
+. if defined(WITH_COMPRESSED_IMAGES) || !empty(WITH_COMPRESSED_IMAGES)
+	gzip -k ${DESTDIR}/${OSRELEASE}-${I}
+. endif
 .endfor
 	cd ${DESTDIR} && sha256 ${OSRELEASE}* > ${DESTDIR}/CHECKSUM.SHA256
 	cd ${DESTDIR} && md5 ${OSRELEASE}* > ${DESTDIR}/CHECKSUM.MD5
diff --git a/release/release.conf.sample b/release/release.conf.sample
index 0c445c7e2dd8..e7b9933bb3c3 100644
--- a/release/release.conf.sample
+++ b/release/release.conf.sample
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ PORTBRANCH="ports/head@rHEAD"
 #NODOC=
 #NOPORTS=
 #WITH_DVD=
+#WITH_COMPRESSED_IMAGES=
 
 ## Set when building embedded images.
 #EMBEDDEDBUILD=
diff --git a/release/release.sh b/release/release.sh
index b7428298fc4e..11df3fdf4cf5 100755
--- a/release/release.sh
+++ b/release/release.sh
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ NOPORTS=
 
 # Set to non-empty value to build dvd1.iso as part of the release.
 WITH_DVD=
+WITH_COMPRESSED_IMAGES=
 
 usage() {
 	echo "Usage: $0 [-c release.conf]"
@@ -128,6 +129,7 @@ if [ -n "${EMBEDDEDBUILD}" ]; then
 		exit 1
 	fi
 	WITH_DVD=
+	WITH_COMPRESSED_IMAGES=
 	NODOC=yes
 fi
 
@@ -262,4 +264,4 @@ eval chroot ${CHROOTDIR} make -C /usr/src ${RELEASE_KMAKEFLAGS} buildkernel
 eval chroot ${CHROOTDIR} make -C /usr/src/release ${RELEASE_RMAKEFLAGS} \
 	release
 eval chroot ${CHROOTDIR} make -C /usr/src/release ${RELEASE_RMAKEFLAGS} \
-	install DESTDIR=/R
+	install DESTDIR=/R WITH_COMPRESSED_IMAGES=${WITH_COMPRESSED_IMAGES}
diff --git a/share/man/man7/release.7 b/share/man/man7/release.7
index 34bd0cb58819..71f11b00c867 100644
--- a/share/man/man7/release.7
+++ b/share/man/man7/release.7
@@ -250,6 +250,12 @@ Setting this also sets
 Set to a non-empty value to include the
 .Cm dvdrom
 target.
+.It Va WITH_COMPRESSED_IMAGES
+Set to a non-empty value to compress the release images with
+.Xr gzip 1 .
+The original
+.Pq uncompressed
+images are not removed.
 .It Va VCSCMD
 The command run to obtain the source trees.
 Defaults to