diff --git a/frontend/app/components/panel/manage-genotype.hbs b/frontend/app/components/panel/manage-genotype.hbs
index 46f8419b..fd220d77 100644
--- a/frontend/app/components/panel/manage-genotype.hbs
+++ b/frontend/app/components/panel/manage-genotype.hbs
@@ -345,12 +345,20 @@
 
               <div class="genotype">
                 {{#if this.vcfExportText.length}}
-                  <button type="button" class="btn btn-info btn-xs">
-                    {{!-- #component "ember-csv@file-anchor" data=this.vcfExportText fileName=this.vcfExportFileName}} VCF Download{{/component --}}
+                  <button type="button" class="btn btn-info btn-xs"
+                    onclick={{action this.vcfExportTextToFile}} >
+                    VCF Download
                   </button>
                 {{/if}}
+
+                <input type="checkbox"
+                  style="margin-left: 3em;"
+                  checked={{@userSettings.compressVCF}}
+                  oninput={{action (mut @userSettings.compressVCF) value="target.checked"}}  >
+                <label>.vcf.gz</label>
               </div>
 
+
             {{/tab.pane}}
           {{/let}}
         {{/let}}
diff --git a/frontend/app/components/panel/manage-genotype.js b/frontend/app/components/panel/manage-genotype.js
index 9a52594f..5c4f4db9 100644
--- a/frontend/app/components/panel/manage-genotype.js
+++ b/frontend/app/components/panel/manage-genotype.js
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import NamesFilters from '../../utils/data/names-filters';
 import { toPromiseProxy, toArrayPromiseProxy, addObjectArrays, arrayClear } from '../../utils/ember-devel';
 import { thenOrNow, contentOf, pollCondition, promiseThrottle } from '../../utils/common/promises';
 import { responseTextParseHtml } from '../../utils/domElements';
+import { fileDownloadBlob, fileDownloadAsCSV, text2Gzip } from '../../utils/dom/file-download';
 import { clipboard_writeText } from '../../utils/common/html';
 import { arrayChoose } from  '../../utils/common/arrays';
 import { intervalSize } from '../../utils/interval-calcs';
@@ -183,6 +184,7 @@ function featureHasSamplesLoaded(feature) {
  * .replaceResults default: false
 
  * .showResultText default: false
+ * .compressVCF default : true
  * .showConfigureLookup default: false
  * .showSampleFilters default : false
 
@@ -475,6 +477,9 @@ export default class PanelManageGenotypeComponent extends Component {
     if (userSettings.showResultText === undefined) {
       userSettings.showResultText = false;
     }
+    if (userSettings.compressVCF === undefined) {
+      userSettings.compressVCF = true;
+    }
     if (userSettings.showConfigureLookup === undefined) {
       userSettings.showConfigureLookup = true;
     }
@@ -3155,6 +3160,11 @@ export default class PanelManageGenotypeComponent extends Component {
   //----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
+  /** 
+   * @return a file base name for VCF Download of displayed data of this.lookupBlock.
+   * The base name does not include the extension, because either
+   * '.vcf.txt' or '.vcf.gz' may be used
+   */
   @computed(
     'lookupDatasetId', 'lookupScope', 'vcfGenotypeLookupDomain',
     'vcfGenotypeSamplesSelected', 'requestFormat')
@@ -3168,8 +3178,7 @@ export default class PanelManageGenotypeComponent extends Component {
       '_' + scope +
       '_' + domainText +
       '_' + this.requestFormat +
-      '_' + samplesLength +
-      '.vcf' ;
+      '_' + samplesLength;
     return fileName;
   }
 
@@ -3954,6 +3963,27 @@ export default class PanelManageGenotypeComponent extends Component {
     return combinedP;
   }
 
+  /** Export as a user file download a VCF file constructed from .headerTextP,
+   * .vcfGenotypeText via combineHeader()
+   *
+   * The exported MIME Type used is 'text/csv' because 
+   * 'text/tsv'is would be interpreted as Vcard, refn 
+   * https://github.com/samtools/hts-specs/issues/407
+   * https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/MIME_types/Common_types
+   */
+  vcfExportTextToFile() {
+    this.vcfExportTextP.then(combined => {
+      const data = combined.join('\n');
+      if (this.args.userSettings.compressVCF) {
+        const blobP = text2Gzip(data, 'application/gzip');
+        blobP.then(blob => 
+          fileDownloadBlob(this.vcfExportFileName + '.vcf.gz', blob, 'application/gzip'));
+      } else {
+        fileDownloadAsCSV(this.vcfExportFileName + '.vcf.txt', data, 'text/plain');
+      }
+    });
+  }
+
   combineHeader(headerText, vcfGenotypeText) {
     /** remove trailing \n, so that split does not create a trailing empty line.  */
     headerText = headerText.trim().split('\n');
diff --git a/frontend/app/utils/dom/file-download.js b/frontend/app/utils/dom/file-download.js
index 991ef582..3380b24c 100644
--- a/frontend/app/utils/dom/file-download.js
+++ b/frontend/app/utils/dom/file-download.js
@@ -1,22 +1,28 @@
 //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 /* global Blob */
+/* global removeEventListener */
+/* global document */
+/* global URL */
+/* global CompressionStream */
+/* global Response */
 
 //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-export {fileDownloadAsCSV}
-/** Trigger a download of a CSV / TSV file containing the given CSV / TSV string
+export {fileDownloadBlob, fileDownloadAsCSV}
+/** Trigger a download of a file containing the given data blob.
  *
- * Based on a post on discuss.emberjs.com by skaterdav85, May 2018 :
+ * fileDownloadBlob() and fileDownloadAsCSV() are partly based on a post on discuss.emberjs.com by skaterdav85, May 2018 :
  * https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/whats-the-best-strategy-for-letting-users-download-ember-data-returns-as-csvs/14767/2
+ *
+ * @param filename  string
+ * @param blob
  */
-function fileDownloadAsCSV(filename, contents) {
+function fileDownloadBlob(filename, blob) {
   const { document, URL, removeEventListener } = window;
   const anchor = document.createElement('a');
   anchor.download = filename;
-  const url = anchor.href = URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([contents], {
-    type: 'text/csv'
-  }));
+  const url = anchor.href = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
 
   //----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -31,6 +37,16 @@ function fileDownloadAsCSV(filename, contents) {
   anchor.click();
   URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
   anchor.remove();
+
+}
+/** Trigger a download of a CSV / TSV file containing the given CSV / TSV string
+ *
+ * @param filename  string
+ * @param type  default is 'text/csv'
+ */
+function fileDownloadAsCSV(filename, contents, type = 'text/csv') {
+  const blob = new Blob([contents], { type });
+  fileDownloadBlob(filename, blob);
 }
 
 //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -64,3 +80,18 @@ function exportAsCSVFile(fileName, data, keyArray, columnHeaders, quoteIfNeeded)
 }
 
 //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+export { text2Gzip }
+/** Compress the given string, and return content for a .gz file download
+ * @return promise yielding a blob, of gzip data
+ */
+function text2Gzip(contents, type = 'text/csv') {
+  const
+  stream = new CompressionStream("gzip"),
+  blob = new Blob([contents], { type  }),
+  compressedStream = blob.stream().pipeThrough(stream),
+  promise = new Response(compressedStream).blob();
+
+  return promise;
+
+}