diff --git a/scripts/build-remote.pl.in b/scripts/build-remote.pl.in
index e821b4071..53ad8fa20 100755
--- a/scripts/build-remote.pl.in
+++ b/scripts/build-remote.pl.in
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ print "COPYING INPUTS...\n";
 my $maybeSign = "";
 $maybeSign = "--sign" if -e "/nix/etc/nix/signing-key.sec";
 
-system("NIX_SSHOPTS=\"$sshOpts\" nix-copy-closure $hostName $maybeSign $drvPath $inputs") == 0
+system("NIX_SSHOPTS=\"$sshOpts\" nix-copy-closure --gzip $hostName $maybeSign $drvPath $inputs") == 0
     or die "cannot copy inputs to $hostName: $?";
 
 print "BUILDING...\n";
@@ -209,6 +209,6 @@ foreach my $output (split '\n', $outputs) {
     my $maybeSignRemote = "";
     $maybeSignRemote = "--sign" if $UID != 0;
     
-    system("ssh $sshOpts $hostName 'nix-store --export $maybeSignRemote $output' | @bindir@/nix-store --import > /dev/null") == 0
+    system("ssh $sshOpts $hostName 'nix-store --export $maybeSignRemote $output | gzip' | gunzip | @bindir@/nix-store --import > /dev/null") == 0
 	or die "cannot copy $output from $hostName: $?";
 }