diff --git a/lib/msf/core/exploit/http.rb b/lib/msf/core/exploit/http.rb
index f206a1aa26..f224377d8f 100644
--- a/lib/msf/core/exploit/http.rb
+++ b/lib/msf/core/exploit/http.rb
@@ -158,8 +158,30 @@ protected
 			[
 				OptString.new('URIPATH', [ false,  "The URI to use for this exploit (default is random)"]),
 			], Exploit::Remote::HttpServer)
+		
+		register_advanced_options(
+			[
+				OptBool.new('DisableGzip', [ false, "Disable the use of GZIP on HTTP responses", false ]),
+			], Exploit::Remote::HttpServer)
 	end
 
+	#
+	# Ensures that gzip can be used.  If not, an exception is generated.  The
+	# exception is only raised if the DisableGzip advanced option has not been
+	# set.
+	#
+	def use_gzip
+		if (!Rex::Text.gzip_present? and datastore['DisableGzip'] != true)
+			raise RuntimeError, "GZIP support was not detected, set the DisableGzip advanced option to use non-compressed HTTP responses"
+		end
+	end
+
+	#
+	# This method gives a derived class the opportunity to ensure that all
+	# dependencies are present before initializing the service.
+	#
+	def check_dependencies
+	end
 
 	#
 	# This mixin starts the HTTP server listener.  This routine takes a few
@@ -170,6 +192,8 @@ protected
 	#   Uri        => The URI to handle and the associated procedure to call.
 	#
 	def start_service(opts = {})
+		check_dependencies
+
 		# Default the server host and port to what is required by the mixin.
 		opts = {
 			'ServerHost' => datastore['SRVHOST'],
@@ -252,6 +276,9 @@ protected
 	# Transmits an gzip-encoded HTML response to the supplied client.
 	#
 	def send_html_gzip_response(cli, body, headers = {})
+		# Just call the normal response method if gzip is disabled.
+		return send_html_response(cli, body, headers) if (datastore['DisableGzip'])
+
 		response = create_response
 		response['Content-Type'] = 'text/html'
 		response['Content-Encoding'] = 'gzip'
diff --git a/modules/exploits/windows/browser/metafile_abortproc.rb b/modules/exploits/windows/browser/metafile_abortproc.rb
index 5766969f18..ea102721db 100644
--- a/modules/exploits/windows/browser/metafile_abortproc.rb
+++ b/modules/exploits/windows/browser/metafile_abortproc.rb
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ class Exploits::Windows::Browser::MetafileAbortProc < Msf::Exploit::Remote
 			'DefaultTarget'  => 0))
 	end
 
+	def check_dependencies
+		use_gzip
+	end
+
 	def on_request_uri(cli, request)
 	
 		if (not request.uri.match(/\.(wmf|tiff)$/i))