diff --git a/src/core/server/http/http_server.test.ts b/src/core/server/http/http_server.test.ts
index f07f22f6dae59..f753de306b183 100644
--- a/src/core/server/http/http_server.test.ts
+++ b/src/core/server/http/http_server.test.ts
@@ -577,45 +577,6 @@ test('exposes route details of incoming request to a route handler', async () =>
     });
 });
 
-describe('conditional compression', () => {
-  test('disables compression when there is a referer', async () => {
-    const { registerRouter, server: innerServer } = await server.setup(config);
-
-    const router = new Router('', logger, enhanceWithContext);
-    router.get({ path: '/', validate: false }, (context, req, res) =>
-      // we need the large body here so that compression would normally be used
-      res.ok({ body: 'hello'.repeat(500), headers: { 'Content-Type': 'text/html; charset=UTF-8' } })
-    );
-    registerRouter(router);
-
-    await server.start();
-    const response = await supertest(innerServer.listener)
-      .get('/')
-      .set('accept-encoding', 'gzip')
-      .set('referer', 'http://some-other-site/');
-
-    expect(response.header).not.toHaveProperty('content-encoding');
-  });
-
-  test(`enables compression when there isn't a referer`, async () => {
-    const { registerRouter, server: innerServer } = await server.setup(config);
-
-    const router = new Router('', logger, enhanceWithContext);
-    router.get({ path: '/', validate: false }, (context, req, res) =>
-      // we need the large body here so that compression will be used
-      res.ok({ body: 'hello'.repeat(500), headers: { 'Content-Type': 'text/html; charset=UTF-8' } })
-    );
-    registerRouter(router);
-
-    await server.start();
-    const response = await supertest(innerServer.listener)
-      .get('/')
-      .set('accept-encoding', 'gzip');
-
-    expect(response.header).toHaveProperty('content-encoding', 'gzip');
-  });
-});
-
 describe('setup contract', () => {
   describe('#createSessionStorage', () => {
     it('creates session storage factory', async () => {
diff --git a/src/core/server/http/http_server.ts b/src/core/server/http/http_server.ts
index d6077200d3c75..3354324c12407 100644
--- a/src/core/server/http/http_server.ts
+++ b/src/core/server/http/http_server.ts
@@ -96,7 +96,6 @@ export class HttpServer {
 
     const basePathService = new BasePath(config.basePath);
     this.setupBasePathRewrite(config, basePathService);
-    this.setupConditionalCompression();
 
     return {
       registerRouter: this.registerRouter.bind(this),
@@ -176,23 +175,6 @@ export class HttpServer {
     });
   }
 
-  private setupConditionalCompression() {
-    if (this.server === undefined) {
-      throw new Error('Server is not created yet');
-    }
-
-    this.server.ext('onRequest', (request, h) => {
-      // whenever there is a referrer, don't use compression even if the client supports it
-      if (request.info.referrer !== '') {
-        this.log.debug(
-          `Not using compression because there is a referer: ${request.info.referrer}`
-        );
-        request.info.acceptEncoding = '';
-      }
-      return h.continue;
-    });
-  }
-
   private registerOnPostAuth(fn: OnPostAuthHandler) {
     if (this.server === undefined) {
       throw new Error('Server is not created yet');
diff --git a/test/api_integration/apis/core/index.js b/test/api_integration/apis/core/index.js
index e5da4e4730662..d617b2ad07351 100644
--- a/test/api_integration/apis/core/index.js
+++ b/test/api_integration/apis/core/index.js
@@ -16,45 +16,21 @@
  * specific language governing permissions and limitations
  * under the License.
  */
-import expect from '@kbn/expect';
 
 export default function ({ getService }) {
   const supertest = getService('supertest');
 
-  describe('core', () => {
-    describe('request context', () => {
-      it('provides access to elasticsearch', async () => (
-        await supertest
-          .get('/requestcontext/elasticsearch')
-          .expect(200, 'Elasticsearch: true')
-      ));
+  describe('core request context', () => {
+    it('provides access to elasticsearch', async () => (
+      await supertest
+        .get('/requestcontext/elasticsearch')
+        .expect(200, 'Elasticsearch: true')
+    ));
 
-      it('provides access to SavedObjects client', async () => (
-        await supertest
-          .get('/requestcontext/savedobjectsclient')
-          .expect(200, 'SavedObjects client: {"page":1,"per_page":20,"total":0,"saved_objects":[]}')
-      ));
-    });
-
-    describe('compression', () => {
-      it(`uses compression when there isn't a referer`, async () => {
-        await supertest
-          .get('/app/kibana')
-          .set('accept-encoding', 'gzip')
-          .then(response => {
-            expect(response.headers).to.have.property('content-encoding', 'gzip');
-          });
-      });
-
-      it(`doesn't use compression when there is a referer`, async () => {
-        await supertest
-          .get('/app/kibana')
-          .set('accept-encoding', 'gzip')
-          .set('referer', 'https://www.google.com')
-          .then(response => {
-            expect(response.headers).not.to.have.property('content-encoding');
-          });
-      });
-    });
+    it('provides access to SavedObjects client', async () => (
+      await supertest
+        .get('/requestcontext/savedobjectsclient')
+        .expect(200, 'SavedObjects client: {"page":1,"per_page":20,"total":0,"saved_objects":[]}')
+    ));
   });
 }
diff --git a/test/api_integration/apis/index.js b/test/api_integration/apis/index.js
index de36ee678b10e..9f2672959390c 100644
--- a/test/api_integration/apis/index.js
+++ b/test/api_integration/apis/index.js
@@ -34,6 +34,5 @@ export default function ({ loadTestFile }) {
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./status'));
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./stats'));
     loadTestFile(require.resolve('./ui_metric'));
-    loadTestFile(require.resolve('./core'));
   });
 }