diff --git a/backend/README.md b/backend/README.md
index 44df278..55c423e 100644
--- a/backend/README.md
+++ b/backend/README.md
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ Validation will fail if required sheets or columns are missing.
 
 The application logs detailed performance metrics to `metrics.txt` including:
 - **Validation times**: File validation performance per form
-- **Parse-only times**: Schema parsing without database operations  
+- **Parse-only times**: Schema parsing without database operations
 - **Upload processing times**: Complete form processing with database storage
 - **Question/Option processing**: Individual item processing performance
 - **Cold startup tracking**: Application initialization times
@@ -276,5 +276,23 @@ The application logs detailed performance metrics to `metrics.txt` including:
 - **Metrics:** Extend metrics logging for new operations or performance measurements.
 - **Documentation:** Update this README and docstrings in code for any new features or changes.
 
+# Why you don't do compression with XLS/XLSX files
+
+XLS and XLSX files are already compressed formats (especially XLSX, which is a ZIP archive of XML files). Applying additional compression (like gzip) typically results in minimal size reduction—often less than 3%. This extra step adds processing overhead without significant storage or transfer benefits. In most cases, it's more efficient to transfer these files as-is.
+
+# Compression Metrics for XLSX Files
+
+| File Name              | Compressed Size (bytes) | Decompressed Size (bytes) | Compression Ratio | Bytes Saved |
+|------------------------|------------------------|---------------------------|-------------------|-------------|
+| valid_form_7.xlsx.gz   | 37,009                 | 37,973                    | 2.5%              | 964         |
+| valid_form_8.xlsx.gz   | 38,975                 | 40,021                    | 2.6%              | 1,046       |
+| valid_form_9.xlsx.gz   | 37,341                 | 38,420                    | 2.8%              | 1,079       |
+| valid_form_10.xlsx.gz  | 37,269                 | 38,208                    | 2.5%              | 939         |
+
+**Observation:**
+The compression ratios are very low (2.5%–2.8%), saving only about 939–1,079 bytes per file. This demonstrates that compressing XLSX files provides negligible space savings.
+
+To put this in perspective, this required refactoring half the codebase with over 5,000 changed lines of code.
+
 ## License
 MIT
diff --git a/frontend/package-lock.json b/frontend/package-lock.json
index fac7c1a..ac3e8b2 100644
--- a/frontend/package-lock.json
+++ b/frontend/package-lock.json
@@ -6412,9 +6412,9 @@
       }
     },
     "node_modules/compression": {
-      "version": "1.8.0",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/compression/-/compression-1.8.0.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-k6WLKfunuqCYD3t6AsuPGvQWaKwuLLh2/xHNcX4qE+vIfDNXpSqnrhwA7O53R7WVQUnt8dVAIW+YHr7xTgOgGA==",
+      "version": "1.8.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/compression/-/compression-1.8.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-9mAqGPHLakhCLeNyxPkK4xVo746zQ/czLH1Ky+vkitMnWfWZps8r0qXuwhwizagCRttsL4lfG4pIOvaWLpAP0w==",
       "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
@@ -6422,7 +6422,7 @@
         "compressible": "~2.0.18",
         "debug": "2.6.9",
         "negotiator": "~0.6.4",
-        "on-headers": "~1.0.2",
+        "on-headers": "~1.1.0",
         "safe-buffer": "5.2.1",
         "vary": "~1.1.2"
       },
@@ -9844,9 +9844,9 @@
       }
     },
     "node_modules/on-headers": {
-      "version": "1.0.2",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/on-headers/-/on-headers-1.0.2.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-pZAE+FJLoyITytdqK0U5s+FIpjN0JP3OzFi/u8Rx+EV5/W+JTWGXG8xFzevE7AjBfDqHv/8vL8qQsIhHnqRkrA==",
+      "version": "1.1.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/on-headers/-/on-headers-1.1.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-737ZY3yNnXy37FHkQxPzt4UZ2UWPWiCZWLvFZ4fu5cueciegX0zGPnrlY6bwRg4FdQOe9YU8MkmJwGhoMybl8A==",
       "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT",
       "engines": {