diff --git a/Changes b/Changes
index 4ec8f1c..3949571 100644
--- a/Changes
+++ b/Changes
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-0.58.0 2018-08-15
+0.58.0 2018-08-21
     - [feature] Implemented referencing cached collection (margaretha)
     - [feature] Implemented deserialization of collection with array values
       and cache option (margaretha)
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
     - [feature] Implemented custom namedVC path (margaretha)
     - [bugfix] Fix wrong behaviour of negative constraints in and-Groups
       of VCs (#42; diewald)
+    - [feature] Adding loading namedVC from gz (margaretha)
 
 0.57 2018-04-05
     - [feature] Support text queries in metadata
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 4514523..d73ed2c 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -213,11 +213,11 @@
 			<artifactId>commons-cli</artifactId>
 			<version>1.3.1</version>
 		</dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
-      <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
-      <version>1.3.2</version>
-    </dependency>
+    	<dependency>
+		    <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
+		    <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
+		    <version>2.6</version>
+		</dependency>
   </dependencies>
 
 	<build>
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/KrillCollection.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/KrillCollection.java
index 6e384a1..ddea3f0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/KrillCollection.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/KrillCollection.java
@@ -8,8 +8,10 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.io.output.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.DocsAndPositionsEnum;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.LeafReader;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.LeafReaderContext;
@@ -400,27 +402,46 @@
     
     private String loadVCFile (String ref) {
         Properties prop = KrillProperties.loadDefaultProperties();
-        if (prop == null){
+        if (prop == null) {
             this.addError(StatusCodes.MISSING_KRILL_PROPERTIES,
                     "krill.properties is not found.");
             return null;
         }
-        
+
         String namedVCPath = prop.getProperty("krill.namedVC");
-        if (!namedVCPath.endsWith("/")){
+        if (!namedVCPath.endsWith("/")) {
             namedVCPath += "/";
         }
-        File file = new File(namedVCPath+ref+".jsonld");
-        
+        File file; 
         String json = null;
-        try {
-            FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(file);
-            json = IOUtils.toString(fis);
+        if ((file= new File(namedVCPath + ref + ".jsonld")).exists()) {
+            try (FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(file)) {
+                json = IOUtils.toString(fis,"utf-8");
+            }
+            catch (IOException e) {
+                this.addError(StatusCodes.READING_COLLECTION_FAILED,
+                        e.getMessage());
+            }
         }
-        catch (IOException e) {
+        // slower than plain text, but save space
+        else if ((file = new File(namedVCPath + ref + ".jsonld.gz")).exists()){
+            try (GZIPInputStream gzipInputStream =
+                    new GZIPInputStream(new FileInputStream(file));
+                    ByteArrayOutputStream bos =
+                            new ByteArrayOutputStream(512);) {
+                bos.write(gzipInputStream);
+                json = bos.toString("utf-8");
+            }
+            catch (IOException e) {
+                this.addError(StatusCodes.READING_COLLECTION_FAILED,
+                        e.getMessage());
+            }
+        }
+        else{
             this.addError(StatusCodes.MISSING_COLLECTION,
                     "Collection is not found.");
         }
+
         return json;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/util/StatusCodes.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/util/StatusCodes.java
index 0560af1..4663363 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/util/StatusCodes.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/util/StatusCodes.java
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@
 
     // 800 - 899 - Virtual Collection Messages
     public static final int MISSING_COLLECTION = 800;
+    public static final int READING_COLLECTION_FAILED = 801;
     public static final int UNSUPPORTED_MATCH_TYPE = 802;
     public static final int UNKNOWN_VALUE_TYPE = 804;
     public static final int INVALID_VALUE = 805;
diff --git a/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/collection/TestVCCaching.java b/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/collection/TestVCCaching.java
index 632a194..a333f70 100644
--- a/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/collection/TestVCCaching.java
+++ b/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/collection/TestVCCaching.java
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 
         InputStream is = getClass().getClassLoader()
                 .getResourceAsStream("collection/unknown-vc-ref.jsonld");
-        String json = IOUtils.toString(is);
+        String json = IOUtils.toString(is,"utf-8");
 
         KrillCollection kc = new KrillCollection(json);
         List<Message> messages = kc.getErrors().getMessages();
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@
     private void testManualAddToCache (String filename, String vcName) throws IOException {
         InputStream is = getClass().getClassLoader()
                 .getResourceAsStream(filename);
-        String json = IOUtils.toString(is);
+        String json = IOUtils.toString(is,"utf-8");
         is.close();
 
         KrillCollection kc = new KrillCollection(json);
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@
     private void testSearchCachedVC () throws IOException {
         InputStream is = getClass().getClassLoader()
                 .getResourceAsStream("collection/query-with-vc-ref.jsonld");
-        String json = IOUtils.toString(is);
+        String json = IOUtils.toString(is, "utf-8");
 
         String result = new Krill(json).apply(this.index).toJsonString();
         System.out.println(json);