diff --git a/rfb/tightEncode.h b/rfb/tightEncode.h
index 7479d7e..a6c32ea 100644
--- a/rfb/tightEncode.h
+++ b/rfb/tightEncode.h
@@ -192,6 +192,7 @@
     //        Maybe use the same static object used in the JPEG coder?
     rdr::MemOutStream mem_os;
     zos->setUnderlying(&mem_os);
+    zos->setCompressionLevel(zlibLevel);
     zos->writeBytes(buf, length);
     zos->flush();
     os->writeCompactLength(mem_os.length());