diff --git a/src/documents/management/commands/document_exporter.py b/src/documents/management/commands/document_exporter.py
index cc0aa4d1b..0d0f3f681 100644
--- a/src/documents/management/commands/document_exporter.py
+++ b/src/documents/management/commands/document_exporter.py
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING:
 if settings.AUDIT_LOG_ENABLED:
     from auditlog.models import LogEntry
 
+from documents.export.compression import COMPRESSION_CHOICES
+from documents.export.compression import COMPRESSION_METHODS
+from documents.export.compression import ZSTD
+from documents.export.compression import compression_available
+from documents.export.compression import level_error
 from documents.export.sinks import DirectoryExportSink
 from documents.export.sinks import ExportSink
 from documents.export.sinks import StreamingManifestWriter
@@ -191,6 +196,28 @@ class Command(CryptMixin, PaperlessCommand):
             help="Sets the export zip file name",
         )
 
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--zip-compression",
+            choices=COMPRESSION_CHOICES,
+            default=None,
+            help=(
+                "Compression method for the export zip (requires --zip). "
+                "Default: deflated. 'zstd' requires Python 3.14+ on both the "
+                "exporting and importing machine."
+            ),
+        )
+
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--zip-compression-level",
+            type=int,
+            default=None,
+            help=(
+                "Compression level for the export zip (requires --zip). "
+                "deflated: 0-9, bzip2: 1-9, zstd: -131072..22; ignored for "
+                "stored/lzma."
+            ),
+        )
+
         parser.add_argument(
             "--data-only",
             default=False,
@@ -246,12 +273,39 @@ class Command(CryptMixin, PaperlessCommand):
         if not os.access(self.target, os.W_OK):
             raise CommandError("That path doesn't appear to be writable")
 
+        zip_compression: str | None = options["zip_compression"]
+        zip_compression_level: int | None = options["zip_compression_level"]
+
+        if not self.zip_export and (
+            zip_compression is not None or zip_compression_level is not None
+        ):
+            raise CommandError(
+                "--zip-compression and --zip-compression-level require --zip",
+            )
+
+        compression_method = zip_compression or "deflated"
+        if self.zip_export:
+            if not compression_available(compression_method):
+                if compression_method == "zstd" and ZSTD is None:
+                    raise CommandError(
+                        "zstd compression requires Python 3.14 or newer",
+                    )
+                raise CommandError(
+                    f"Compression method '{compression_method}' is not "
+                    f"available on this Python runtime",
+                )
+            level_msg = level_error(compression_method, zip_compression_level)
+            if level_msg is not None:
+                raise CommandError(level_msg)
+
         sink: ExportSink
         if self.zip_export:
             sink = ZipExportSink(
                 self.target,
                 options["zip_name"],
                 delete=self.delete,
+                compression=COMPRESSION_METHODS[compression_method],
+                compresslevel=zip_compression_level,
             )
         else:
             sink = DirectoryExportSink(
diff --git a/src/documents/tests/test_management_exporter.py b/src/documents/tests/test_management_exporter.py
index 44456535a..7734de7f8 100644
--- a/src/documents/tests/test_management_exporter.py
+++ b/src/documents/tests/test_management_exporter.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ from datetime import timedelta
 from io import StringIO
 from pathlib import Path
 from unittest import mock
+from zipfile import ZIP_DEFLATED
+from zipfile import ZIP_LZMA
 from zipfile import ZipFile
 
 import pytest
@@ -1078,6 +1080,87 @@ class TestExportImport(
                         skip_checks=True,
                     )
 
+    def test_compression_flags_require_zip(self) -> None:
+        for args in (
+            ["--zip-compression", "lzma"],
+            ["--zip-compression-level", "5"],
+        ):
+            with self.assertRaises(CommandError):
+                call_command(
+                    "document_exporter",
+                    self.target,
+                    *args,
+                    skip_checks=True,
+                )
+
+    def test_zip_compression_level_out_of_range_raises(self) -> None:
+        with self.assertRaises(CommandError):
+            call_command(
+                "document_exporter",
+                self.target,
+                "--zip",
+                "--zip-compression",
+                "deflated",
+                "--zip-compression-level",
+                "99",
+                skip_checks=True,
+            )
+
+    def test_zip_compression_level_rejected_for_stored(self) -> None:
+        with self.assertRaises(CommandError):
+            call_command(
+                "document_exporter",
+                self.target,
+                "--zip",
+                "--zip-compression",
+                "stored",
+                "--zip-compression-level",
+                "5",
+                skip_checks=True,
+            )
+
+    def test_zip_lzma_compression_round_trips(self) -> None:
+        shutil.rmtree(Path(self.dirs.media_dir) / "documents")
+        shutil.copytree(
+            Path(__file__).parent / "samples" / "documents",
+            Path(self.dirs.media_dir) / "documents",
+        )
+        call_command(
+            "document_exporter",
+            self.target,
+            "--zip",
+            "--zip-compression",
+            "lzma",
+            skip_checks=True,
+        )
+        expected = str(
+            self.target / f"export-{timezone.localdate().isoformat()}.zip",
+        )
+        self.assertIsFile(expected)
+        with ZipFile(expected) as zip_file:
+            info = zip_file.getinfo("manifest.json")
+            # manifest.json carries the chosen method; deflated is the default
+            self.assertEqual(info.compress_type, ZIP_LZMA)
+
+    def test_default_zip_uses_deflate(self) -> None:
+        shutil.rmtree(Path(self.dirs.media_dir) / "documents")
+        shutil.copytree(
+            Path(__file__).parent / "samples" / "documents",
+            Path(self.dirs.media_dir) / "documents",
+        )
+        call_command(
+            "document_exporter",
+            self.target,
+            "--zip",
+            skip_checks=True,
+        )
+        expected = str(
+            self.target / f"export-{timezone.localdate().isoformat()}.zip",
+        )
+        with ZipFile(expected) as zip_file:
+            info = zip_file.getinfo("manifest.json")
+            self.assertEqual(info.compress_type, ZIP_DEFLATED)
+
 
 @pytest.mark.management
 class TestCryptExportImport(