diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ff545f4..e68e574 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ CLOUDWATCH_FROM_DATE = $(shell ./scripts/determine-cloudwatch-from-date-based-on
 CLOUDWATCH_TO_DATE = $(shell date '+%Y-%m-%d')
 CLOUDWATCH_TARGET_DIR = ./logs/cloudwatch
 CLOUDWATCH_JSONL_FILE = ./logs/ingress.jsonl
+CLOUDWATCH_JSONL_GZ_FILE = $(CLOUDWATCH_JSONL_FILE).gz
 CLOUDWATCH_JSONL_SCHEMA_FILE = $(CLOUDWATCH_JSONL_FILE).bq-schema.json
 
 
@@ -84,17 +85,18 @@ download-events-from-s3:
 		"$(CLOUDWATCH_TO_DATE)" \
 		"$(CLOUDWATCH_TARGET_DIR)"
 
-.convert-cloudwatch-logs-to-jsonl:
-	./scripts/convert-cloudwatch-logs-to-jsonl.sh \
+.convert-gzipped-cloudwatch-logs-to-jsonl-gz:
+	./scripts/convert-gzipped-cloudwatch-logs-to-jsonl-gz.sh \
 		"$(CLOUDWATCH_TARGET_DIR)" \
-		"$(CLOUDWATCH_JSONL_FILE)"
+		"$(CLOUDWATCH_JSONL_GZ_FILE)"
 
-.generate-schema-for-cloudwatch-jsonl-file: venv
-	cat "$(CLOUDWATCH_JSONL_FILE)" \
+.generate-schema-for-cloudwatch-jsonl-gz-file: venv
+	cat "$(CLOUDWATCH_JSONL_GZ_FILE)" \
+		| zcat \
 		| venv/bin/generate-schema \
 		> "$(CLOUDWATCH_JSONL_SCHEMA_FILE)"
 
-.upload-ingress-jsonl-to-bigquery:
+.upload-ingress-jsonl-gz-to-bigquery:
 	bq load \
 		--project_id=elife-data-pipeline \
 		--noreplace \
@@ -102,14 +104,14 @@ download-events-from-s3:
 		--schema_update_option=ALLOW_FIELD_ADDITION \
 		--source_format=NEWLINE_DELIMITED_JSON \
 		de_proto.sciety_ingress_v1 \
-		"$(CLOUDWATCH_JSONL_FILE)"
+		"$(CLOUDWATCH_JSONL_GZ_FILE)"
 
 .do-upload-ingress-logs-from-cloudwatch-to-bigquery:
 	$(MAKE) .cloudwatch-show-info
 	$(MAKE) .export-and-download-from-cloudwatch
-	$(MAKE) .convert-cloudwatch-logs-to-jsonl
-	$(MAKE) .generate-schema-for-cloudwatch-jsonl-file
-	$(MAKE) .upload-ingress-jsonl-to-bigquery
+	$(MAKE) .convert-gzipped-cloudwatch-logs-to-jsonl-gz
+	$(MAKE) .generate-schema-for-cloudwatch-jsonl-gz-file
+	$(MAKE) .upload-ingress-jsonl-gz-to-bigquery
 
 .upload-ingress-logs-from-cloudwatch-to-bigquery:
 	@if [ "$(CLOUDWATCH_FROM_DATE)" = "$(CLOUDWATCH_TO_DATE)" ]; then \
diff --git a/scripts/convert-cloudwatch-logs-to-bigquery-jsonl.sh b/scripts/convert-cloudwatch-logs-to-bigquery-jsonl.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 9f52ac2..0000000
--- a/scripts/convert-cloudwatch-logs-to-bigquery-jsonl.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-set -euo pipefail
-
-cat $1 \
-    | sed -e 's/[^ ]* //' \
-    | jq --compact-output 'del(.kubernetes) | del(.docker)' \
-    > $1.jsonl
diff --git a/scripts/convert-cloudwatch-logs-to-jsonl.sh b/scripts/convert-cloudwatch-logs-to-jsonl.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index daced73..0000000
--- a/scripts/convert-cloudwatch-logs-to-jsonl.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-set -euo pipefail
-
-local_cloudwatch_dir="$1"
-target_jsonl_file="$2"
-
-if [ -z "${local_cloudwatch_dir}" ] || [ -z "${target_jsonl_file}" ]; then
-    echo "Usage: $0 <local cloudwatch dir> <target jsonl file>"
-    exit 1
-fi
-
-echo "converting ${local_cloudwatch_dir} to ${target_jsonl_file}"
-
-find "${local_cloudwatch_dir}" -type 'f' \
-    | grep -v jsonl \
-    | xargs -n 1 ./scripts/convert-cloudwatch-logs-to-bigquery-jsonl.sh
-(find "${local_cloudwatch_dir}" -type 'f' | grep jsonl | xargs cat) > "${target_jsonl_file}"
diff --git a/scripts/convert-gzipped-cloudwatch-logs-to-bigquery-jsonl-gz.sh b/scripts/convert-gzipped-cloudwatch-logs-to-bigquery-jsonl-gz.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c62a7d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/convert-gzipped-cloudwatch-logs-to-bigquery-jsonl-gz.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+log_gz_file="$1"
+common_filename=${log_gz_file%.*}
+target_jsonl_gz_file="$common_filename.jsonl.gz"
+
+echo "converting $log_gz_file to $target_jsonl_gz_file"
+
+cat $log_gz_file \
+    | zcat \
+    | sed -e 's/[^ ]* //' \
+    | jq --compact-output 'del(.kubernetes) | del(.docker)' \
+    | gzip - \
+    > $target_jsonl_gz_file
diff --git a/scripts/convert-gzipped-cloudwatch-logs-to-jsonl-gz.sh b/scripts/convert-gzipped-cloudwatch-logs-to-jsonl-gz.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..515b0d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/convert-gzipped-cloudwatch-logs-to-jsonl-gz.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+local_cloudwatch_dir="$1"
+target_jsonl_gz_file="$2"
+
+if [ -z "${local_cloudwatch_dir}" ] || [ -z "${target_jsonl_gz_file}" ]; then
+    echo "Usage: $0 <local cloudwatch dir> <target jsonl gz file>"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "converting ${local_cloudwatch_dir} to ${target_jsonl_gz_file}"
+
+find "${local_cloudwatch_dir}" -type 'f' \
+    | grep -v jsonl \
+    | xargs -n 1 ./scripts/convert-gzipped-cloudwatch-logs-to-bigquery-jsonl-gz.sh
+
+echo "combining jsonl files to ${target_jsonl_gz_file}"
+(find "${local_cloudwatch_dir}" -type 'f' | grep jsonl.gz | xargs gunzip -c | gzip -) > "${target_jsonl_gz_file}"
diff --git a/scripts/download-from-cloudwatch.sh b/scripts/download-from-cloudwatch.sh
index 87f2f7b..c63bd7a 100755
--- a/scripts/download-from-cloudwatch.sh
+++ b/scripts/download-from-cloudwatch.sh
@@ -14,4 +14,3 @@ echo "downloading from ${logs_url} to ${target_dir}"
 
 mkdir -p "${target_dir}"
 aws s3 cp --recursive ${logs_url} "${target_dir}"
-gunzip -r "${target_dir}"