diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 61c02ba2aa2..d84c0336ea5 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 # This file is automatically @generated by Cargo.
 # It is not intended for manual editing.
+[[package]]
+name = "adler"
+version = "0.2.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ee2a4ec343196209d6594e19543ae87a39f96d5534d7174822a3ad825dd6ed7e"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "aho-corasick"
 version = "0.7.14"
@@ -68,6 +74,12 @@ version = "0.1.10"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "4785bdd1c96b2a846b2bd7cc02e86b6b3dbf14e7e53446c4f54c92a361040822"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "cfg-if"
+version = "1.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "baf1de4339761588bc0619e3cbc0120ee582ebb74b53b4efbf79117bd2da40fd"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "chrono"
 version = "0.4.19"
@@ -96,6 +108,27 @@ dependencies = [
  "vec_map",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "crc32fast"
+version = "1.2.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "81156fece84ab6a9f2afdb109ce3ae577e42b1228441eded99bd77f627953b1a"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if 1.0.0",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "flate2"
+version = "1.0.18"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "da80be589a72651dcda34d8b35bcdc9b7254ad06325611074d9cc0fbb19f60ee"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if 0.1.10",
+ "crc32fast",
+ "libc",
+ "miniz_oxide",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "generator"
 version = "0.6.23"
@@ -142,7 +175,7 @@ version = "0.4.11"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "4fabed175da42fed1fa0746b0ea71f412aa9d35e76e95e59b192c64b9dc2bf8b"
 dependencies = [
- "cfg-if",
+ "cfg-if 0.1.10",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -151,7 +184,7 @@ version = "0.3.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "a0e8460f2f2121162705187214720353c517b97bdfb3494c0b1e33d83ebe4bed"
 dependencies = [
- "cfg-if",
+ "cfg-if 0.1.10",
  "generator",
  "scoped-tls",
  "serde",
@@ -173,6 +206,16 @@ version = "2.3.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "3728d817d99e5ac407411fa471ff9800a778d88a24685968b36824eaf4bee400"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "miniz_oxide"
+version = "0.4.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "0f2d26ec3309788e423cfbf68ad1800f061638098d76a83681af979dc4eda19d"
+dependencies = [
+ "adler",
+ "autocfg",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "node-types"
 version = "0.1.0"
@@ -257,6 +300,7 @@ name = "ruby-extractor"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "clap",
+ "flate2",
  "node-types",
  "tracing",
  "tracing-subscriber",
@@ -409,7 +453,7 @@ version = "0.1.21"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "b0987850db3733619253fe60e17cb59b82d37c7e6c0236bb81e4d6b87c879f27"
 dependencies = [
- "cfg-if",
+ "cfg-if 0.1.10",
  "pin-project-lite",
  "tracing-attributes",
  "tracing-core",
diff --git a/extractor/Cargo.toml b/extractor/Cargo.toml
index cb9c4f54ddf..6aabc942542 100644
--- a/extractor/Cargo.toml
+++ b/extractor/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ edition = "2018"
 # See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
 
 [dependencies]
+flate2 = "1.0"
 node-types = { path = "../node-types" }
 tree-sitter = "0.17.0"
 tree-sitter-ruby = "0.16"
diff --git a/extractor/src/main.rs b/extractor/src/main.rs
index 4dd1aa1e9fc..ca9747fb673 100644
--- a/extractor/src/main.rs
+++ b/extractor/src/main.rs
@@ -1,10 +1,47 @@
 mod extractor;
 
 use clap;
+use flate2::write::GzEncoder;
 use std::fs;
-use std::io::BufRead;
+use std::io::{BufRead, BufWriter, Write};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 
+enum TrapCompression {
+    None,
+    Gzip,
+}
+
+impl TrapCompression {
+    fn from_env() -> TrapCompression {
+        match std::env::var("CODEQL_RUBY_TRAP_COMPRESSION") {
+            Ok(method) => match TrapCompression::from_string(&method) {
+                Some(c) => c,
+                None => {
+                    tracing::error!("Unknown compression method '{}'; using gzip.", &method);
+                    TrapCompression::Gzip
+                }
+            },
+            // Default compression method if the env var isn't set:
+            Err(_) => TrapCompression::Gzip,
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn from_string(s: &str) -> Option<TrapCompression> {
+        match s.to_lowercase().as_ref() {
+            "none" => Some(TrapCompression::None),
+            "gzip" => Some(TrapCompression::Gzip),
+            _ => None,
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn extension(&self) -> &str {
+        match self {
+            TrapCompression::None => ".trap",
+            TrapCompression::Gzip => ".trap.gz",
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 fn main() -> std::io::Result<()> {
     tracing_subscriber::fmt()
         .with_target(false)
@@ -32,6 +69,7 @@ fn main() -> std::io::Result<()> {
         .value_of("output-dir")
         .expect("missing --output-dir");
     let trap_dir = PathBuf::from(trap_dir);
+    let trap_compression = TrapCompression::from_env();
 
     let file_list = matches.value_of("file-list").expect("missing --file-list");
     let file_list = fs::File::open(file_list)?;
@@ -41,18 +79,27 @@ fn main() -> std::io::Result<()> {
     let mut extractor = extractor::create(language, schema);
     for line in std::io::BufReader::new(file_list).lines() {
         let path = PathBuf::from(line?).canonicalize()?;
-        let trap_file = path_for(&trap_dir, &path, ".trap");
+        let trap_file = path_for(&trap_dir, &path, trap_compression.extension());
         let src_archive_file = path_for(&src_archive_dir, &path, "");
         let trap = extractor.extract(&path)?;
         std::fs::create_dir_all(&src_archive_file.parent().unwrap())?;
         std::fs::copy(&path, &src_archive_file)?;
         std::fs::create_dir_all(&trap_file.parent().unwrap())?;
-        let mut trap_file = std::fs::File::create(&trap_file)?;
-        let trap_file: &mut dyn std::io::Write = &mut trap_file;
-        write!(trap_file, "{}", trap)?;
+        let trap_file = std::fs::File::create(&trap_file)?;
+        let mut trap_file = BufWriter::new(trap_file);
+        match trap_compression {
+            TrapCompression::None => {
+                write!(trap_file, "{}", trap)?;
+            }
+            TrapCompression::Gzip => {
+                let mut compressed_writer = GzEncoder::new(trap_file, flate2::Compression::fast());
+                write!(compressed_writer, "{}", trap)?;
+            }
+        }
     }
     return Ok(());
 }
+
 fn path_for(dir: &Path, path: &Path, ext: &str) -> PathBuf {
     let mut result = PathBuf::from(dir);
     for component in path.components() {