CURLOPT\_TRANSFER\_ENCODING(3) Library Functions Manual CURLOPT\_TRANSFER\_ENCODING(3)

# [NAME](#NAME)

CURLOPT\_TRANSFER\_ENCODING - ask for HTTP Transfer Encoding

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

```
#include <curl/curl.h>
CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_TRANSFER_ENCODING,


                          long enable);
```

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Pass a long set to 1L to *enable* or 0 to disable.

Adds a request for compressed Transfer Encoding in the outgoing HTTP request. If the server supports this and so desires, it can respond with the HTTP response sent using a compressed Transfer-Encoding that is automatically uncompressed by libcurl on reception.

Transfer-Encoding differs slightly from the Content-Encoding you ask for with [*CURLOPT\_ACCEPT\_ENCODING(3)*](/man/os/curl/CURLOPT_ACCEPT_ENCODING.3) in that a Transfer-Encoding is strictly meant to be for the transfer and thus must be decoded before the data arrives in the client. Traditionally, Transfer-Encoding has been much less used and supported by both HTTP clients and HTTP servers.

# [DEFAULT](#DEFAULT)

0

# [PROTOCOLS](#PROTOCOLS)

This functionality affects http only

# [EXAMPLE](#EXAMPLE)

```
int main(void)
{


  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();


  if(curl) {


    CURLcode result;


    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");


    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_TRANSFER_ENCODING, 1L);


    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);


    curl_easy_cleanup(curl);


  }
}
```

# [AVAILABILITY](#AVAILABILITY)

Added in curl 7.21.6

# [RETURN VALUE](#RETURN_VALUE)

[*curl\_easy\_setopt(3)*](/man/os/curl/curl_easy_setopt.3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error.

CURLE\_OK (0) means everything was OK, non-zero means an error occurred, see [*libcurl-errors(3)*](/man/os/curl/libcurl-errors.3).

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**CURLOPT\_ACCEPT\_ENCODING**(3)](/man/os/curl/CURLOPT_ACCEPT_ENCODING.3), [**CURLOPT\_HTTP\_TRANSFER\_DECODING**(3)](/man/os/curl/CURLOPT_HTTP_TRANSFER_DECODING.3)

2026-10-22 libcurl

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Document: CURLOPT_TRANSFER_ENCODING(3) from curl 8.23.0-r2 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/curl/curl.git