Title: ERR_CONTENT_DECODING_FAILED Last modified: July 17, 2017 --- # ERR_CONTENT_DECODING_FAILED * [bash88](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bash88/) * (@bash88) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/) * Hi Guys, * I’ve been using this plugin for quite some time now. Everything has always worked smoothly, until a couple of weeks ago (maybe this has something to do with the WP 4.8 update). * When the plugin is activated, Chrome shows an ERR_CONTENT_DECODING_FAILED error really short and then reloads the page automatically, displaying the page properly. Firefox insists on showing the ERR_CONTENT_DECODING_FAILED page until the user decides to reload the page. * I don’t think I changed anything in the plugin settings. I did update to WP 4.8 some time ago, so maybe this has something to do with it. * Could you help me solve this? Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 18 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/page/2/?output_format=md) * [Ben](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benbornschein/) * (@benbornschein) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9325742) * Hi, * did you tried to clear WP Super Cache’s cache and your browser’s cache? Did you use any other caching plugin before using WP Super Cache? * Thread Starter [bash88](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bash88/) * (@bash88) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9326072) * Hi Ben, * Thanks for your quick response. I deleted the whole cache folder on the server and I’m checking out the website in incognito mode. So there’s no cache left behind, I think. * No other caching plugins are involved here. * [Ben](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benbornschein/) * (@benbornschein) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9326079) * Can you try to disable the “compress pages” option and check it again? * Thread Starter [bash88](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bash88/) * (@bash88) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9326111) * That does fix the problem. * Would you also happen to know what the problem is here? * [Ben](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benbornschein/) * (@benbornschein) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9326123) * Can be two things: * 1. Memory of the server has an error (if the issue is not persistent for the same page, it is the memory) 2. Something corrupts the page before or while WP Super Cache tries to compress the page. * Thread Starter [bash88](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bash88/) * (@bash88) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9326157) * The issue was completely persistent for all pages. First time page load after clearing the cache = error. After that, fine. So based on your info I don’t think it’s the memory. * I see now that the files compressed by my minifying plugin generate the same error. Completely unrelated to WP super cache, but then maybe the WP 4.8 update changed something in compression which affects both plugins? * Is the compression done through a WP function or something? * [Ben](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benbornschein/) * (@benbornschein) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9326196) * Did your minifying plugin worked before while WP Super Cache was active and compressed the pages? * Thread Starter [bash88](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bash88/) * (@bash88) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9326247) * Yes, the minifying plugin has always worked as expected. * I disabled both WP super cache and the minifying plugin when I noticed the issue last week. * WP super cache is now active without compression. When I activate the minifying plugin the minified files generate the same ERR_CONTENT_DECODING_FAILED error in the console the page compression in WP Super cache did. * [Ben](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benbornschein/) * (@benbornschein) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9326328) * You can try to disable every other plugin and select the WordPress default theme. Then try again to activate “compress pages” and check, if the error is gone. * Thread Starter [bash88](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bash88/) * (@bash88) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9328308) * Do you know if the compression is done through a WP function? * [Ben](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benbornschein/) * (@benbornschein) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9328357) * No, it’s just the php function ob_gzhandler/zlib.output-compression that is used by most plugins to compress the data. * Thread Starter [bash88](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bash88/) * (@bash88) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9328387) * Ben, * Thank you very much for taking the time to help. * In the end it turns out it’s another plugin unrelated to both WP Super Cache and the minifying plugin causing the issue. * [Ben](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benbornschein/) * (@benbornschein) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9328406) * Great, which plugin has caused the error? - This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by [Ben](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benbornschein/). * Thread Starter [bash88](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bash88/) * (@bash88) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9328457) * A custom plugin by a supplier. Not really worth mentioning the name here. * I guess it’s going to turn out to be something like this (found this in [another thread](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/chrome-error-err_content_decoding_failed/)): * “It was caused by an extra space after the closing ?> in a plugin file…” * [Ben](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benbornschein/) * (@benbornschein) * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/#post-9328565) * Yes, if any whitespace/char is outputted before ob_start(); is started or after ob_end_clean(); stopped, the complete process fails. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 18 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/page/2/?output_format=md) The topic ‘ERR_CONTENT_DECODING_FAILED’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/wp-super-cache/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=1095422) * [WP Super Cache](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-super-cache/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-super-cache/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-super-cache/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-super-cache/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-super-cache/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-super-cache/reviews/) * 18 replies * 4 participants * Last reply from: [ICIwordpress](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iciwordpress/) * Last activity: [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/err_content_decoding_failed-3/page/2/#post-9407862) * Status: not resolved