CURLOPT_TRANSFER_ENCODING(3)

💅 CURLOPT_TRANSFER_ENCODING(3) 💅

okay bestie, welcome to the libcurl manual page for CURLOPT_TRANSFER_ENCODING — that's the Library Functions Manual energy right there, and yes we're gonna get through it together 🫶✨

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

CURLOPT_TRANSFER_ENCODING — the vibe where you ask for HTTP Transfer Encoding 👑

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_TRANSFER_ENCODING,
                          long enable);

literally that's it, that's the whole call, no cap 🎀

---

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so. you pass a long set to 1L to enable it, or 0 to disable it. simple as that, periodt 💅

when it's on, it adds a request for compressed Transfer Encoding to your outgoing HTTP request. and then — if the server supports it and actually wants to — it can come back at you with an HTTP response sent using a compressed Transfer-Encoding, and libcurl will automatically uncompress that for you on reception. iconic behaviour honestly 😭🔥

now here's the part where people get confused, so pay attention bestie: Transfer-Encoding is a little different from the Content-Encoding you ask for with CURLOPT_ACCEPT_ENCODING(3). the difference is that a Transfer-Encoding is strictly meant for the transfer itself, which means it's gotta be decoded before the data arrives at the client. get it? it's a transport thing, not a content thing 🦋

and traditionally? Transfer-Encoding has been much less used and much less supported — by both HTTP clients and HTTP servers. so like, don't expect everyone to be on board, it's giving niche 💀

---

🎀 DEFAULT 🎀

0

(off by default, she's dormant until you say otherwise 🙈)

---

🌈 PROTOCOLS 🌈

this functionality affects http only — that's it, that's the list 💜

---

⭐ EXAMPLE ⭐

int main(void)
{
  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  if(curl) {
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_TRANSFER_ENCODING, 1L);
    curl_easy_perform(curl);
  }
}

look at her go 🧚✨ a whole main character with a whole curl_easy_init() and everything

---

🦋 AVAILABILITY 🦋

added in curl 7.21.6 — so she's been around a minute, vintage queen 👑

---

🔥 RETURN VALUE 🔥

curl_easy_setopt(3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error, fr fr.

CURLE_OK (0) means everything was OK — slay 💖. non-zero means an error occurred 😭, so go check libcurl-errors(3) for the tea.

ngl, always check your return codes bestie. every single time. it's giving self-care 🌸

---

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• CURLOPT_ACCEPT_ENCODING(3)
• CURLOPT_HTTP_TRANSFER_DECODING(3)

go read those too, they're literally the sibling pages and they ate 🍓

---

that's the whole page diva 💜 this was libcurl documentation dated 2026-10-12, manual page CURLOPT_TRANSFER_ENCODING(3) — now go forth and compress your transfers responsibly, mwah 😘🎀✨