diff --git a/docs/user/settings.rst b/docs/user/settings.rst
index a2425c8c..950bd231 100644
--- a/docs/user/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/user/settings.rst
@@ -951,6 +951,14 @@ Nginx
   application/x-font-ttf font/opentype``.
 - **Default:** ``\*``.
 
+``NGINX_BROTLI_SWITCH``
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+- **Explanation:** Enables or disables serving precompressed Brotli files
+  from the static files directory.
+- **Valid Values:** ``on``, ``off``.
+- **Default:** ``on``.
+
 ``NGINX_HTTPS_ALLOWED_IPS``
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/images/openwisp_dashboard/module_settings.py b/images/openwisp_dashboard/module_settings.py
index 6c092abf..0fb7faba 100644
--- a/images/openwisp_dashboard/module_settings.py
+++ b/images/openwisp_dashboard/module_settings.py
@@ -85,10 +85,6 @@
         "BACKEND": "openwisp_utils.storage.CompressStaticFilesStorage",
     },
 }
-BROTLI_STATIC_COMPRESSION = False
-# pregenerate static gzip files to save CPU
-GZIP_STATIC_COMPRESSION = True
-
 HTTP_SCHEME = request_scheme()
 HTTP_PORT = (
     os.getenv("NGINX_SSL_PORT", "443")
diff --git a/images/openwisp_nginx/Dockerfile b/images/openwisp_nginx/Dockerfile
index 1210fdb6..38bda115 100644
--- a/images/openwisp_nginx/Dockerfile
+++ b/images/openwisp_nginx/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,46 @@
-FROM nginx:1.31.2-alpine
+ARG NGINX_VERSION=1.31.2
+
+# Build the nginx brotli module against nginx.org's nginx package used by this image.
+# Alpine's nginx module packages target Alpine's own nginx build.
+FROM nginx:${NGINX_VERSION}-alpine AS brotli-builder
+
+ARG NGINX_VERSION
+ARG NGX_BROTLI_VERSION=v1.0.0rc
+
+# hadolint ignore=DL3003,DL3018
+RUN apk add --update --no-cache \
+            brotli-dev \
+            build-base \
+            git \
+            linux-headers \
+            openssl-dev \
+            pcre2-dev \
+            zlib-dev && \
+    git clone --depth 1 --branch ${NGX_BROTLI_VERSION} --recurse-submodules \
+            https://github.com/google/ngx_brotli.git /tmp/ngx_brotli && \
+    wget -q https://nginx.org/download/nginx-${NGINX_VERSION}.tar.gz \
+            -O /tmp/nginx-${NGINX_VERSION}.tar.gz && \
+    tar xzf /tmp/nginx-${NGINX_VERSION}.tar.gz -C /tmp && \
+    cd /tmp/nginx-${NGINX_VERSION} && \
+    ./configure \
+            --with-compat \
+            --with-cc-opt='-Wno-error=unterminated-string-initialization -Wno-error=vla-parameter' \
+            --add-dynamic-module=/tmp/ngx_brotli && \
+    make modules
+
+FROM nginx:${NGINX_VERSION}-alpine
+
+ARG NGINX_VERSION
+
+RUN mkdir -p /etc/nginx/modules
+
+COPY --from=brotli-builder \
+    /tmp/nginx-${NGINX_VERSION}/objs/ngx_http_brotli_static_module.so \
+    /etc/nginx/modules/ngx_http_brotli_static_module.so
 
 # hadolint ignore=DL3018
 RUN apk add --update --no-cache \
+            brotli-libs \
             py3-pip \
             certbot \
             certbot-nginx \
@@ -41,6 +80,7 @@ ENV MODULE_NAME=nginx \
     NGINX_GZIP_PROXIED=any \
     NGINX_GZIP_MIN_LENGTH=1000 \
     NGINX_GZIP_TYPES='text/plain image/svg+xml application/json application/javascript text/xml text/css application/xml application/x-font-ttf font/opentype' \
+    NGINX_BROTLI_SWITCH=on \
     NGINX_CUSTOM_FILE=False \
     NGINX_WORKER_PROCESSES=1 \
     NGINX_WORKER_CONNECTIONS=1024 \
diff --git a/images/openwisp_nginx/nginx.template.conf b/images/openwisp_nginx/nginx.template.conf
index bf5e15e2..aad7f3f8 100644
--- a/images/openwisp_nginx/nginx.template.conf
+++ b/images/openwisp_nginx/nginx.template.conf
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 # Changes in given http block reflect in
 # all openwisp server blocks.
 
+load_module modules/ngx_http_brotli_static_module.so;
+
 user  nginx;
 worker_processes  ${NGINX_WORKER_PROCESSES};
 worker_rlimit_nofile  ${NGINX_WORKER_RLIMIT_NOFILE};
diff --git a/images/openwisp_nginx/openwisp.ssl.template.conf b/images/openwisp_nginx/openwisp.ssl.template.conf
index 1d9259c1..d4d75cae 100644
--- a/images/openwisp_nginx/openwisp.ssl.template.conf
+++ b/images/openwisp_nginx/openwisp.ssl.template.conf
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ server {
 
     # GZIP Configurations
     gzip ${NGINX_GZIP_SWITCH};
-    gzip_static ${NGINX_GZIP_SWITCH};
     gzip_comp_level ${NGINX_GZIP_LEVEL};
     gzip_proxied ${NGINX_GZIP_PROXIED};
     gzip_min_length ${NGINX_GZIP_MIN_LENGTH};
@@ -61,8 +60,15 @@ server {
         allow $NGINX_ADMIN_ALLOW_NETWORK;
         deny all;
     }
+    location /static/custom/ {
+        alias /opt/openwisp/public/custom/static/custom/;
+        gzip_static ${NGINX_GZIP_SWITCH};
+        brotli_static ${NGINX_BROTLI_SWITCH};
+    }
     location /static/ {
-        try_files /custom${DOLLAR}uri /${DOLLAR}uri;
+        alias /opt/openwisp/public/static/;
+        gzip_static ${NGINX_GZIP_SWITCH};
+        brotli_static ${NGINX_BROTLI_SWITCH};
     }
     location / {
         try_files /custom/maintenance.html ${DOLLAR}uri ${DOLLAR}uri/index.html @uwsgi;
diff --git a/images/openwisp_nginx/openwisp.template.conf b/images/openwisp_nginx/openwisp.template.conf
index 2c162c65..9d4f29df 100644
--- a/images/openwisp_nginx/openwisp.template.conf
+++ b/images/openwisp_nginx/openwisp.template.conf
@@ -33,8 +33,15 @@ server {
         proxy_set_header Upgrade ${DOLLAR}http_upgrade;
         proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
     }
+    location /static/custom/ {
+        alias /opt/openwisp/public/custom/static/custom/;
+        gzip_static ${NGINX_GZIP_SWITCH};
+        brotli_static ${NGINX_BROTLI_SWITCH};
+    }
     location /static/ {
-        try_files /custom${DOLLAR}uri /${DOLLAR}uri;
+        alias /opt/openwisp/public/static/;
+        gzip_static ${NGINX_GZIP_SWITCH};
+        brotli_static ${NGINX_BROTLI_SWITCH};
     }
     location / {
         error_page 403 = @deny;