diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/maps/server/mvt/get_grid_tile.ts b/x-pack/plugins/maps/server/mvt/get_grid_tile.ts
index 754fdb9c1f4d2..620971d3097dd 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/maps/server/mvt/get_grid_tile.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/maps/server/mvt/get_grid_tile.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 import { CoreStart, Logger } from 'src/core/server';
 import type { DataRequestHandlerContext } from 'src/plugins/data/server';
+import { IncomingHttpHeaders } from 'http';
 import { Stream } from 'stream';
 import { RENDER_AS } from '../../common/constants';
 import { isAbortError } from './util';
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ export async function getEsGridTile({
   renderAs: RENDER_AS;
   gridPrecision: number;
   abortController: AbortController;
-}): Promise<Stream | null> {
+}): Promise<{ stream: Stream | null; headers?: IncomingHttpHeaders }> {
   try {
     const path = `/${encodeURIComponent(index)}/_mvt/${geometryFieldName}/${z}/${x}/${y}`;
     const body = {
@@ -80,13 +81,13 @@ export async function getEsGridTile({
       }
     );
 
-    return tile.body as Stream;
+    return { stream: tile.body as Stream, headers: tile.headers };
   } catch (e) {
     if (!isAbortError(e)) {
       // These are often circuit breaking exceptions
       // Should return a tile with some error message
       logger.warn(`Cannot generate ES-grid-tile for ${z}/${x}/${y}: ${e.message}`);
     }
-    return null;
+    return { stream: null };
   }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/maps/server/mvt/get_tile.ts b/x-pack/plugins/maps/server/mvt/get_tile.ts
index 7e9bc01c5c317..669ca7e20fc4c 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/maps/server/mvt/get_tile.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/maps/server/mvt/get_tile.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 import { CoreStart, Logger } from 'src/core/server';
 import type { DataRequestHandlerContext } from 'src/plugins/data/server';
+import { IncomingHttpHeaders } from 'http';
 import { Stream } from 'stream';
 import { isAbortError } from './util';
 import { makeExecutionContext } from '../../common/execution_context';
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ export async function getEsTile({
   logger: Logger;
   requestBody: any;
   abortController: AbortController;
-}): Promise<Stream | null> {
+}): Promise<{ stream: Stream | null; headers?: IncomingHttpHeaders }> {
   try {
     const path = `/${encodeURIComponent(index)}/_mvt/${geometryFieldName}/${z}/${x}/${y}`;
 
@@ -80,13 +81,13 @@ export async function getEsTile({
       }
     );
 
-    return tile.body as Stream;
+    return { stream: tile.body as Stream, headers: tile.headers };
   } catch (e) {
     if (!isAbortError(e)) {
       // These are often circuit breaking exceptions
       // Should return a tile with some error message
       logger.warn(`Cannot generate ES-grid-tile for ${z}/${x}/${y}: ${e.message}`);
     }
-    return null;
+    return { stream: null };
   }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/maps/server/mvt/mvt_routes.ts b/x-pack/plugins/maps/server/mvt/mvt_routes.ts
index dde68bd0d1335..e5b3d69fcb3a3 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/maps/server/mvt/mvt_routes.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/maps/server/mvt/mvt_routes.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  */
 
 import { Stream } from 'stream';
+import { IncomingHttpHeaders } from 'http';
 import { schema } from '@kbn/config-schema';
 import { CoreStart, KibanaRequest, KibanaResponseFactory, Logger } from 'src/core/server';
 import { IRouter } from 'src/core/server';
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ export function initMVTRoutes({
 
       const abortController = makeAbortController(request);
 
-      const gzippedTile = await getEsTile({
+      const { stream, headers } = await getEsTile({
         url: `${API_ROOT_PATH}/${MVT_GETTILE_API_PATH}/{z}/{x}/{y}.pbf`,
         core,
         logger,
@@ -71,7 +72,7 @@ export function initMVTRoutes({
         abortController,
       });
 
-      return sendResponse(response, gzippedTile);
+      return sendResponse(response, stream, headers);
     }
   );
 
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ export function initMVTRoutes({
 
       const abortController = makeAbortController(request);
 
-      const gzipTileStream = await getEsGridTile({
+      const { stream, headers } = await getEsGridTile({
         url: `${API_ROOT_PATH}/${MVT_GETGRIDTILE_API_PATH}/{z}/{x}/{y}.pbf`,
         core,
         logger,
@@ -119,20 +120,27 @@ export function initMVTRoutes({
         abortController,
       });
 
-      return sendResponse(response, gzipTileStream);
+      return sendResponse(response, stream, headers);
     }
   );
 }
 
-function sendResponse(response: KibanaResponseFactory, gzipTileStream: Stream | null) {
+function sendResponse(
+  response: KibanaResponseFactory,
+  gzipTileStream: Stream | null,
+  headers?: IncomingHttpHeaders
+) {
   const cacheControl = `public, max-age=${CACHE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS}`;
   const lastModified = `${new Date().toUTCString()}`;
-  if (gzipTileStream) {
+  if (gzipTileStream && headers) {
+    // use the content-encoding and content-length headers from elasticsearch if they exist
+    const { 'content-length': contentLength, 'content-encoding': contentEncoding } = headers;
     return response.ok({
       body: gzipTileStream,
       headers: {
         'content-disposition': 'inline',
-        'content-encoding': 'gzip',
+        ...(contentLength && { 'content-length': contentLength }),
+        ...(contentEncoding && { 'content-encoding': contentEncoding }),
         'Content-Type': 'application/x-protobuf',
         'Cache-Control': cacheControl,
         'Last-Modified': lastModified,