diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index fe4e94b..00193ae 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 unreleased
 ==========
-  * Add the defaultEncoding option for requests without `Accept-Encoding` header
+  * Add the enforceEncoding option for requests without `Accept-Encoding` header
 
 1.7.5 / 2024-10-31
 ==========
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 91591b6..d32645e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ The default value is `zlib.Z_DEFAULT_WINDOWBITS`, or `15`.
 See [Node.js documentation](http://nodejs.org/api/zlib.html#zlib_memory_usage_tuning)
 regarding the usage.
 
-##### defaultEncoding
+##### enforceEncoding
 
 This is the default encoding to use when the client does not specify an encoding in the request's [Accept-Encoding](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Accept-Encoding) header.
 
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 6889b3f..bb420e4 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ function compression (options) {
   // options
   var filter = opts.filter || shouldCompress
   var threshold = bytes.parse(opts.threshold)
-  var defaultEncoding = opts.defaultEncoding || 'identity'
+  var enforceEncoding = opts.enforceEncoding || 'identity'
 
   if (threshold == null) {
     threshold = 1024
@@ -181,8 +181,8 @@ function compression (options) {
       var method = negotiator.encoding(['gzip', 'deflate', 'identity'], ['gzip'])
 
       // if no method is found, use the default encoding
-      if (encodingSupported.indexOf(defaultEncoding) !== -1 && !req.headers['accept-encoding']) {
-        method = defaultEncoding === '*' ? 'gzip' : defaultEncoding
+      if (encodingSupported.indexOf(enforceEncoding) !== -1 && !req.headers['accept-encoding']) {
+        method = enforceEncoding === '*' ? 'gzip' : enforceEncoding
       }
 
       // negotiation failed
@@ -191,10 +191,6 @@ function compression (options) {
         return
       }
 
-      if (opts.defaultEncoding) {
-        opts.defaultEncoding = undefined
-      }
-
       // compression stream
       debug('%s compression', method)
       stream = method === 'gzip'
diff --git a/test/compression.js b/test/compression.js
index 6d1bb25..ad2b147 100644
--- a/test/compression.js
+++ b/test/compression.js
@@ -658,9 +658,9 @@ describe('compression()', function () {
     })
   })
 
-  describe('defaultEncoding', function () {
+  describe('enforceEncoding', function () {
     it('should compress the provided encoding and not the default encoding', function (done) {
-      var server = createServer({ threshold: 0, defaultEncoding: 'deflate' }, function (req, res) {
+      var server = createServer({ threshold: 0, enforceEncoding: 'deflate' }, function (req, res) {
         res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain')
         res.end('hello, world')
       })
@@ -672,8 +672,8 @@ describe('compression()', function () {
         .expect(200, 'hello, world', done)
     })
 
-    it('should not compress when defaultEncoding is identity', function (done) {
-      var server = createServer({ threshold: 0, defaultEncoding: 'identity' }, function (req, res) {
+    it('should not compress when enforceEncoding is identity', function (done) {
+      var server = createServer({ threshold: 0, enforceEncoding: 'identity' }, function (req, res) {
         res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain')
         res.end('hello, world')
       })
@@ -685,8 +685,8 @@ describe('compression()', function () {
         .expect(200, 'hello, world', done)
     })
 
-    it('should compress when defaultEncoding is gzip', function (done) {
-      var server = createServer({ threshold: 0, defaultEncoding: 'gzip' }, function (req, res) {
+    it('should compress when enforceEncoding is gzip', function (done) {
+      var server = createServer({ threshold: 0, enforceEncoding: 'gzip' }, function (req, res) {
         res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain')
         res.end('hello, world')
       })
@@ -698,8 +698,8 @@ describe('compression()', function () {
         .expect(200, 'hello, world', done)
     })
 
-    it('should compress when defaultEncoding is deflate', function (done) {
-      var server = createServer({ threshold: 0, defaultEncoding: 'deflate' }, function (req, res) {
+    it('should compress when enforceEncoding is deflate', function (done) {
+      var server = createServer({ threshold: 0, enforceEncoding: 'deflate' }, function (req, res) {
         res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain')
         res.end('hello, world')
       })
@@ -711,8 +711,8 @@ describe('compression()', function () {
         .expect(200, 'hello, world', done)
     })
 
-    it('should not compress when defaultEncoding is unknown', function (done) {
-      var server = createServer({ threshold: 0, defaultEncoding: 'bogus' }, function (req, res) {
+    it('should not compress when enforceEncoding is unknown', function (done) {
+      var server = createServer({ threshold: 0, enforceEncoding: 'bogus' }, function (req, res) {
         res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain')
         res.end('hello, world')
       })
@@ -724,8 +724,8 @@ describe('compression()', function () {
         .expect(200, 'hello, world', done)
     })
 
-    it('should be gzip if no accept-encoding is sent when defaultEncoding is *', function (done) {
-      var server = createServer({ threshold: 0, defaultEncoding: '*' }, function (req, res) {
+    it('should be gzip if no accept-encoding is sent when enforceEncoding is *', function (done) {
+      var server = createServer({ threshold: 0, enforceEncoding: '*' }, function (req, res) {
         res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain')
         res.end('hello, world')
       })