diff --git a/actix-files/CHANGES.md b/actix-files/CHANGES.md
index 38e2b16e9..3cc5afb53 100644
--- a/actix-files/CHANGES.md
+++ b/actix-files/CHANGES.md
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Add `Files::try_compressed()` to support serving pre-compressed static files [#2615]
+
+[#2615]: https://github.com/actix/actix-web/pull/2615
+
 ## 0.6.10
 
 ### Security Notice
@@ -51,13 +55,10 @@ We encourage updating your `actix-files` version as soon as possible.
 ## 0.6.3
 
 - XHTML files now use `Content-Disposition: inline` instead of `attachment`. [#2903]
-- Add `Files::try_compressed()` to support serving pre-compressed static files [#2615]
 - Minimum supported Rust version (MSRV) is now 1.59 due to transitive `time` dependency.
 - Update `tokio-uring` dependency to `0.4`.
 
 [#2903]: https://github.com/actix/actix-web/pull/2903
-[#2615]: https://github.com/actix/actix-web/pull/2615
-
 
 ## 0.6.2
 
diff --git a/actix-files/src/service.rs b/actix-files/src/service.rs
index 5e91eaaa7..ae6725385 100644
--- a/actix-files/src/service.rs
+++ b/actix-files/src/service.rs
@@ -100,6 +100,11 @@ impl FilesService {
                 header::CONTENT_ENCODING,
                 header::HeaderValue::from_static(header_value),
             );
+            // Response representation varies by Accept-Encoding when serving pre-compressed assets.
+            res.headers_mut().append(
+                header::VARY,
+                header::HeaderValue::from_static("accept-encoding"),
+            );
         }
         ServiceResponse::new(req, res)
     }
@@ -168,6 +173,15 @@ impl Service<ServiceRequest> for FilesService {
 
             // full file path
             let path = this.directory.join(&path_on_disk);
+
+            // Try serving pre-compressed file even if the uncompressed file doesn't exist yet.
+            // Still handle directories (index/listing) through the normal branch below.
+            if this.try_compressed && !path.is_dir() {
+                if let Some((named_file, encoding)) = find_compressed(&req, &path).await {
+                    return Ok(this.serve_named_file_with_encoding(req, named_file, encoding));
+                }
+            }
+
             if let Err(err) = path.canonicalize() {
                 return this.handle_err(err, req).await;
             }
@@ -216,11 +230,6 @@ impl Service<ServiceRequest> for FilesService {
                     )),
                 }
             } else {
-                if this.try_compressed {
-                    if let Some((named_file, encoding)) = find_compressed(&req, &path).await {
-                        return Ok(this.serve_named_file_with_encoding(req, named_file, encoding));
-                    }
-                }
                 match NamedFile::open_async(&path).await {
                     Ok(named_file) => Ok(this.serve_named_file(req, named_file)),
                     Err(err) => this.handle_err(err, req).await,
@@ -293,11 +302,9 @@ async fn find_compressed(
         };
 
         let mut compressed_path = original_path.to_owned();
-        let filename = match compressed_path.file_name().and_then(|name| name.to_str()) {
-            Some(filename) => filename.to_owned(),
-            None => return None,
-        };
-        compressed_path.set_file_name(filename + extension);
+        let mut filename = compressed_path.file_name()?.to_owned();
+        filename.push(extension);
+        compressed_path.set_file_name(filename);
 
         match NamedFile::open_async(&compressed_path).await {
             Ok(mut named_file) => {
diff --git a/actix-files/tests/encoding.rs b/actix-files/tests/encoding.rs
index 80ad1c49e..12752a5a4 100644
--- a/actix-files/tests/encoding.rs
+++ b/actix-files/tests/encoding.rs
@@ -60,13 +60,17 @@ async fn test_compression_encodings() {
         res.headers().get(header::CONTENT_ENCODING),
         Some(&HeaderValue::from_static("gzip")),
     );
+    assert_eq!(
+        res.headers().get(header::VARY),
+        Some(&HeaderValue::from_static("accept-encoding")),
+    );
     assert_eq!(res.into_body().size(), actix_web::body::BodySize::Sized(76),);
 
     // Select the highest priority encoding
     let mut req = TestRequest::with_uri("/utf8.txt").to_request();
     req.headers_mut().insert(
         header::ACCEPT_ENCODING,
-        header::HeaderValue::from_static("gz;q=0.6,br;q=0.8,*"),
+        header::HeaderValue::from_static("gzip;q=0.6,br;q=0.8,*"),
     );
     let res = test::call_service(&srv, req).await;
 
@@ -79,6 +83,10 @@ async fn test_compression_encodings() {
         res.headers().get(header::CONTENT_ENCODING),
         Some(&HeaderValue::from_static("br")),
     );
+    assert_eq!(
+        res.headers().get(header::VARY),
+        Some(&HeaderValue::from_static("accept-encoding")),
+    );
     assert_eq!(res.into_body().size(), actix_web::body::BodySize::Sized(49),);
 
     // Request encoding that doesn't exist on disk and fallback to no encoding
@@ -142,6 +150,7 @@ async fn test_compression_encodings() {
     assert_eq!(res.headers().get(header::CONTENT_ENCODING), None);
 }
 
+#[actix_web::test]
 async fn partial_range_response_encoding() {
     let srv = test::init_service(App::new().default_service(web::to(|| async {
         NamedFile::open_async("./tests/test.binary").await.unwrap()