diff --git a/packages/connect-node-test/src/compression.spec.ts b/packages/connect-node-test/src/compression.spec.ts
index 25ce2bf50..fc1d5006f 100644
--- a/packages/connect-node-test/src/compression.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/connect-node-test/src/compression.spec.ts
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ describe("compression", () => {
         const equal = payload.every((value, index) => b[index] === value);
         expect(equal).toBeTrue();
       });
+      it("should decompress zero-length payload", async () => {
+        const b = await compression.decompress(new Uint8Array(0), 0xffffffff);
+        expect(b.byteLength).toBe(0);
+      });
       it("should raise resource_exhausted if maxReadBytes exceeded", async () => {
         try {
           await compression.decompress(payloadCompressed, 2);
diff --git a/packages/connect-node/src/compression.ts b/packages/connect-node/src/compression.ts
index 3cae87f5e..643a1d278 100644
--- a/packages/connect-node/src/compression.ts
+++ b/packages/connect-node/src/compression.ts
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ export const compressionGzip: Compression = {
     return gzip(bytes, {});
   },
   decompress(bytes, readMaxBytes) {
+    if (bytes.length == 0) {
+      return Promise.resolve(new Uint8Array(0));
+    }
     return wrapZLibErrors(
       gunzip(bytes, {
         maxOutputLength: readMaxBytes,
@@ -56,6 +59,9 @@ export const compressionBrotli: Compression = {
     return brotliCompress(bytes, {});
   },
   decompress(bytes, readMaxBytes) {
+    if (bytes.length == 0) {
+      return Promise.resolve(new Uint8Array(0));
+    }
     return wrapZLibErrors(
       brotliDecompress(bytes, {
         maxOutputLength: readMaxBytes,
diff --git a/packages/connect/src/protocol/compression.ts b/packages/connect/src/protocol/compression.ts
index 7492f5293..5e007b991 100644
--- a/packages/connect/src/protocol/compression.ts
+++ b/packages/connect/src/protocol/compression.ts
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ export interface Compression {
   /**
    * Decompress a chunk of data.
    *
+   * A zero-length chunk is acceptable, and will return a zero-length result.
+   *
    * Raises a ConnectError with Code.InvalidArgument if the decompressed
    * size exceeds readMaxBytes.
    */