diff --git a/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/DefaultServlet.java b/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/DefaultServlet.java
index bb573ee04a9..b580148be21 100644
--- a/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/DefaultServlet.java
+++ b/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/DefaultServlet.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ package org.eclipse.jetty.servlet;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.StringTokenizer;
 import javax.servlet.ServletContext;
 import javax.servlet.ServletException;
@@ -170,7 +171,7 @@ public class DefaultServlet extends HttpServlet implements ResourceFactory, Welc
         _resourceService.setAcceptRanges(getInitBoolean("acceptRanges", _resourceService.isAcceptRanges()));
         _resourceService.setDirAllowed(getInitBoolean("dirAllowed", _resourceService.isDirAllowed()));
         _resourceService.setRedirectWelcome(getInitBoolean("redirectWelcome", _resourceService.isRedirectWelcome()));
-        _resourceService.setPrecompressedFormats(parsePrecompressedFormats(getInitParameter("precompressed"), getInitBoolean("gzip", false)));
+        _resourceService.setPrecompressedFormats(parsePrecompressedFormats(getInitParameter("precompressed"), getInitBoolean("gzip"), _resourceService.getPrecompressedFormats()));
         _resourceService.setPathInfoOnly(getInitBoolean("pathInfoOnly", _resourceService.isPathInfoOnly()));
         _resourceService.setEtags(getInitBoolean("etags", _resourceService.isEtags()));
 
@@ -303,8 +304,12 @@ public class DefaultServlet extends HttpServlet implements ResourceFactory, Welc
             LOG.debug("resource base = {}", _resourceBase);
     }
 
-    private CompressedContentFormat[] parsePrecompressedFormats(String precompressed, boolean gzip)
+    private CompressedContentFormat[] parsePrecompressedFormats(String precompressed, Boolean gzip, CompressedContentFormat[] dft)
     {
+        if (precompressed == null && gzip == null)
+        {
+            return dft;
+        }
         List<CompressedContentFormat> ret = new ArrayList<>();
         if (precompressed != null && precompressed.indexOf('=') > 0)
         {
@@ -314,7 +319,7 @@ public class DefaultServlet extends HttpServlet implements ResourceFactory, Welc
                 String encoding = setting[0].trim();
                 String extension = setting[1].trim();
                 ret.add(new CompressedContentFormat(encoding, extension));
-                if (gzip && !ret.contains(CompressedContentFormat.GZIP))
+                if (gzip == Boolean.TRUE && !ret.contains(CompressedContentFormat.GZIP))
                     ret.add(CompressedContentFormat.GZIP);
             }
         }
@@ -326,7 +331,7 @@ public class DefaultServlet extends HttpServlet implements ResourceFactory, Welc
                 ret.add(CompressedContentFormat.GZIP);
             }
         }
-        else if (gzip)
+        else if (gzip == Boolean.TRUE)
         {
             // gzip handling is for backwards compatibility with older Jetty
             ret.add(CompressedContentFormat.GZIP);
@@ -367,11 +372,11 @@ public class DefaultServlet extends HttpServlet implements ResourceFactory, Welc
         return value;
     }
 
-    private boolean getInitBoolean(String name, boolean dft)
+    private Boolean getInitBoolean(String name)
     {
         String value = getInitParameter(name);
         if (value == null || value.length() == 0)
-            return dft;
+            return null;
         return (value.startsWith("t") ||
             value.startsWith("T") ||
             value.startsWith("y") ||
@@ -379,6 +384,11 @@ public class DefaultServlet extends HttpServlet implements ResourceFactory, Welc
             value.startsWith("1"));
     }
 
+    private boolean getInitBoolean(String name, boolean dft)
+    {
+        return Optional.ofNullable(getInitBoolean(name)).orElse(dft);
+    }
+
     private int getInitInt(String name, int dft)
     {
         String value = getInitParameter(name);
diff --git a/jetty-servlet/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/DefaultServletTest.java b/jetty-servlet/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/DefaultServletTest.java
index 1acd1f5a524..1ec1f9d2c52 100644
--- a/jetty-servlet/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/DefaultServletTest.java
+++ b/jetty-servlet/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/DefaultServletTest.java
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 
+import org.eclipse.jetty.http.CompressedContentFormat;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.http.DateGenerator;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.http.HttpContent;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.http.HttpField;
@@ -1968,6 +1969,51 @@ public class DefaultServletTest
         assertThat(body, containsString("fake gzip"));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testProgrammaticCustomCompressionFormats() throws Exception
+    {
+        createFile(docRoot.resolve("data0.txt"), "Hello Text 0");
+        createFile(docRoot.resolve("data0.txt.br"), "fake brotli");
+        createFile(docRoot.resolve("data0.txt.gz"), "fake gzip");
+        createFile(docRoot.resolve("data0.txt.bz2"), "fake bzip2");
+
+        ResourceService resourceService = new ResourceService();
+        resourceService.setPrecompressedFormats(new CompressedContentFormat[]{
+                new CompressedContentFormat("bzip2", ".bz2"),
+                new CompressedContentFormat("gzip", ".gz"),
+                new CompressedContentFormat("br", ".br")
+        });
+        ServletHolder defholder = new ServletHolder(new DefaultServlet(resourceService));
+        context.addServlet(defholder, "/");
+        defholder.setInitParameter("resourceBase", docRoot.toString());
+
+        String rawResponse;
+        HttpTester.Response response;
+        String body;
+
+        rawResponse = connector.getResponse("GET /context/data0.txt HTTP/1.0\r\nHost:localhost:8080\r\nAccept-Encoding:bzip2, br, gzip\r\n\r\n");
+        response = HttpTester.parseResponse(rawResponse);
+        assertThat(response.toString(), response.getStatus(), is(HttpStatus.OK_200));
+        assertThat(response, containsHeaderValue(HttpHeader.CONTENT_LENGTH, "10"));
+        assertThat(response, containsHeaderValue(HttpHeader.CONTENT_TYPE, "text/plain"));
+        assertThat(response, containsHeaderValue(HttpHeader.VARY, "Accept-Encoding"));
+        assertThat(response, containsHeaderValue(HttpHeader.CONTENT_ENCODING, "bzip2"));
+        body = response.getContent();
+        assertThat(body, containsString("fake bzip2"));
+
+        // TODO: show accept-encoding search order issue (shouldn't this request return data0.txt.br?)
+
+        rawResponse = connector.getResponse("GET /context/data0.txt HTTP/1.0\r\nHost:localhost:8080\r\nAccept-Encoding:br, gzip\r\n\r\n");
+        response = HttpTester.parseResponse(rawResponse);
+        assertThat(response.toString(), response.getStatus(), is(HttpStatus.OK_200));
+        assertThat(response, containsHeaderValue(HttpHeader.CONTENT_LENGTH, "9"));
+        assertThat(response, containsHeaderValue(HttpHeader.CONTENT_TYPE, "text/plain"));
+        assertThat(response, containsHeaderValue(HttpHeader.VARY, "Accept-Encoding"));
+        assertThat(response, containsHeaderValue(HttpHeader.CONTENT_ENCODING, "gzip"));
+        body = response.getContent();
+        assertThat(body, containsString("fake gzip"));
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testControlCharacter() throws Exception
     {