diff --git a/dev/codeserver/java/com/google/gwt/dev/codeserver/WebServer.java b/dev/codeserver/java/com/google/gwt/dev/codeserver/WebServer.java
index b9deeca138..20f9599945 100644
--- a/dev/codeserver/java/com/google/gwt/dev/codeserver/WebServer.java
+++ b/dev/codeserver/java/com/google/gwt/dev/codeserver/WebServer.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 import java.util.Date;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
@@ -84,6 +85,10 @@ public class WebServer {
 
   private static final Pattern CACHE_JS_FILE = Pattern.compile("/(" + STRONG_NAME + ").cache.js$");
 
+  private static final Pattern ACCEPT_ENCODING_SPEC = Pattern.compile(
+      "^\\s*([!#$%&'*+.^_`|~0-9A-Za-z-]+|\\*)\\s*(?:;\\s*q\\s*=\\s*"
+          + "(0(?:\\.\\d{0,3})?|1(?:\\.0{0,3})?))?\\s*$");
+
   private static final MimeTypes MIME_TYPES = new MimeTypes();
 
   private static final String TIME_IN_THE_PAST = "Mon, 01 Jan 1990 00:00:00 GMT";
@@ -372,9 +377,11 @@ public void send(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response, TreeL
         }
 
         if (contentEncoding != null) {
-          if (!request.getHeader("Accept-Encoding").contains("gzip")) {
-            response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_IMPLEMENTED);
-            logger.log(TreeLogger.WARN, "client doesn't accept gzip; bailing");
+          if (!acceptsGzipEncoding(request.getHeader("Accept-Encoding"))) {
+            response.setHeader("Accept-Encoding", "gzip");
+            response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE);
+            logger.log(TreeLogger.WARN,
+                "client doesn't accept gzip and no uncompressed representation exists; bailing");
             return;
           }
           response.setHeader("Content-Encoding", "gzip");
@@ -543,6 +550,43 @@ static String guessMimeType(String filename) {
     return mimeType != null ? mimeType : "";
   }
 
+  /* visible for testing */
+  static boolean acceptsGzipEncoding(String acceptEncodingHeader) {
+    if (acceptEncodingHeader == null) {
+      // RFC 9110: if Accept-Encoding is absent, any content coding is acceptable.
+      return true;
+    }
+    if (acceptEncodingHeader.trim().isEmpty()) {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    Double gzipQValue = null;
+    Double wildcardQValue = null;
+
+    for (String encodingSpec : acceptEncodingHeader.split(",")) {
+      Matcher matcher = ACCEPT_ENCODING_SPEC.matcher(encodingSpec);
+      if (!matcher.matches()) {
+        continue;
+      }
+
+      String encoding = matcher.group(1).toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT);
+      String qValueText = matcher.group(2);
+      double qValue = qValueText == null ? 1.0 : Double.parseDouble(qValueText);
+
+      if (encoding.equals("gzip")) {
+        gzipQValue = qValue;
+      } else if (encoding.equals("*")) {
+        wildcardQValue = qValue;
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (gzipQValue != null) {
+      return gzipQValue > 0.0;
+    }
+
+    return wildcardQValue != null && wildcardQValue > 0.0;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Returns the binding properties from the web page where dev mode is being used. (As passed in
    * by dev_mode_on.js in a JSONP request to "/recompile".)
diff --git a/dev/codeserver/javatests/com/google/gwt/dev/codeserver/WebServerAcceptEncodingTest.java b/dev/codeserver/javatests/com/google/gwt/dev/codeserver/WebServerAcceptEncodingTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e35e0e516c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/codeserver/javatests/com/google/gwt/dev/codeserver/WebServerAcceptEncodingTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2026 The GWT Project Authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not
+ * use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of
+ * the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
+ * the License.
+ */
+package com.google.gwt.dev.codeserver;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+/**
+ * Tests request Accept-Encoding parsing for serving gzip-compressed responses.
+ */
+public class WebServerAcceptEncodingTest extends TestCase {
+
+  public void testAcceptsGzipEncodingWhenHeaderIsAbsent() {
+    assertTrue(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding(null));
+  }
+
+  public void testAcceptsGzipEncodingRejectsEmptyHeaderValue() {
+    assertFalse(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding(""));
+    assertFalse(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("   "));
+  }
+
+  public void testAcceptsGzipEncodingAcceptsSimpleGzip() {
+    assertTrue(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("gzip"));
+    assertTrue(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("deflate, gzip"));
+    assertTrue(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("GZIP"));
+  }
+
+  public void testAcceptsGzipEncodingRejectsSubstringMatches() {
+    assertFalse(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("xgzip"));
+    assertFalse(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("gzip-alt"));
+  }
+
+  public void testAcceptsGzipEncodingRejectsExplicitGzipZeroQValue() {
+    assertFalse(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("gzip;q=0"));
+    assertFalse(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("deflate, gzip; q=0.0"));
+  }
+
+  public void testAcceptsGzipEncodingHonorsWildcardWhenGzipAbsent() {
+    assertTrue(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("*"));
+    assertTrue(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("br;q=0.2, *;q=0.7"));
+    assertFalse(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("*;q=0"));
+  }
+
+  public void testAcceptsGzipEncodingPrefersExplicitGzipOverWildcard() {
+    assertFalse(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("gzip;q=0, *;q=1"));
+    assertTrue(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("gzip;q=1, *;q=0"));
+  }
+
+  public void testAcceptsGzipEncodingRejectsInvalidQualityValues() {
+    assertFalse(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("gzip;q=not-a-number"));
+    assertFalse(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("gzip;q=1.1"));
+    assertFalse(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("gzip;q=0.1234"));
+  }
+
+  public void testAcceptsGzipEncodingRejectsUnsupportedParameters() {
+    assertFalse(WebServer.acceptsGzipEncoding("gzip;level=9"));
+  }
+}