diff --git a/Kconfig b/Kconfig
index d52d6fb01f6..7e40d787590 100644
--- a/Kconfig
+++ b/Kconfig
@@ -47,4 +47,4 @@ config GUESTAGENT_COMPRESS
 	bool "guestagent compress"
 	help
 		Compress lima-guestagent
-	default n
+	default y
diff --git a/config.mk b/config.mk
index 9a02aae292b..06ab7787ec5 100644
--- a/config.mk
+++ b/config.mk
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@ CONFIG_GUESTAGENT_ARCH_ARMV7L=y
 CONFIG_GUESTAGENT_ARCH_PPC64LE=y
 CONFIG_GUESTAGENT_ARCH_RISCV64=y
 CONFIG_GUESTAGENT_ARCH_S390X=y
-CONFIG_GUESTAGENT_COMPRESS=n
+CONFIG_GUESTAGENT_COMPRESS=y