diff --git a/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite.go b/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite.go
index 992cea22b..6d94c9ba0 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite.go
@@ -236,6 +236,9 @@ func (c *Client) send(ctx context.Context, data []byte) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create new HTTP request: %w", err)
 	}
+
+	req.Header.Set("Content-Encoding", "snappy")
+
 	if c.authCfg != nil {
 		if auth := c.authCfg.GetAuthHeader(); auth != "" {
 			req.Header.Set("Authorization", auth)
diff --git a/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite_test.go b/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite_test.go
index 18a9cfff6..8f2a64b5d 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/remotewrite/remotewrite_test.go
@@ -80,6 +80,12 @@ func (rw *rwServer) handler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		rw.err(w, fmt.Errorf("bad method %q", r.Method))
 		return
 	}
+
+	h := r.Header.Get("Content-Encoding") 
+	if h != "snappy" {
+		rw.err(w, fmt.Errorf("header read error: Content-Encoding is not snappy (%q)", h))
+	}
+
 	data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r.Body)
 	if err != nil {
 		rw.err(w, fmt.Errorf("body read err: %w", err))