diff --git a/ext/zlib/php_zlib.h b/ext/zlib/php_zlib.h
index 449dfed0620..e895e0e4826 100644
--- a/ext/zlib/php_zlib.h
+++ b/ext/zlib/php_zlib.h
@@ -52,9 +52,10 @@ ZEND_BEGIN_MODULE_GLOBALS(zlib)
 	int compression_coding;
 	long output_compression;
 	long output_compression_level;
-	long output_compression_default;
 	char *output_handler;
 	php_zlib_context *ob_gzhandler;
+	long output_compression_default;
+    zend_bool handler_registered;
 ZEND_END_MODULE_GLOBALS(zlib);
 
 php_stream *php_stream_gzopen(php_stream_wrapper *wrapper, char *path, char *mode, int options, char **opened_path, php_stream_context *context STREAMS_DC TSRMLS_DC);
diff --git a/ext/zlib/tests/bug55544.phpt b/ext/zlib/tests/bug55544.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ca4214a46fb
Binary files /dev/null and b/ext/zlib/tests/bug55544.phpt differ
diff --git a/ext/zlib/zlib.c b/ext/zlib/zlib.c
index eac757bbc58..7ff2b30c4c4 100644
--- a/ext/zlib/zlib.c
+++ b/ext/zlib/zlib.c
@@ -263,6 +263,8 @@ static php_output_handler *php_zlib_output_handler_init(const char *handler_name
 		ZLIBG(output_compression) = chunk_size ? chunk_size : PHP_OUTPUT_HANDLER_DEFAULT_SIZE;
 	}
 
+    ZLIBG(handler_registered) = 1;
+
 	if ((h = php_output_handler_create_internal(handler_name, handler_name_len, php_zlib_output_handler, chunk_size, flags TSRMLS_CC))) {
 		php_output_handler_set_context(h, php_zlib_output_handler_context_init(TSRMLS_C), php_zlib_output_handler_context_dtor TSRMLS_CC);
 	}
@@ -964,9 +966,10 @@ static PHP_MSHUTDOWN_FUNCTION(zlib)
 static PHP_RINIT_FUNCTION(zlib)
 {
 	ZLIBG(compression_coding) = 0;
-	ZLIBG(output_compression) = ZLIBG(output_compression_default);
-
-	php_zlib_output_compression_start(TSRMLS_C);
+    if (!ZLIBG(handler_registered)) {
+        ZLIBG(output_compression) = ZLIBG(output_compression_default);
+        php_zlib_output_compression_start(TSRMLS_C);
+    }
 
 	return SUCCESS;
 }
@@ -976,6 +979,7 @@ static PHP_RINIT_FUNCTION(zlib)
 static PHP_RSHUTDOWN_FUNCTION(zlib)
 {
 	php_zlib_cleanup_ob_gzhandler_mess(TSRMLS_C);
+    ZLIBG(handler_registered) = 0;
 
     return SUCCESS;
 }
@@ -1000,6 +1004,7 @@ static PHP_MINFO_FUNCTION(zlib)
 static ZEND_MODULE_GLOBALS_CTOR_D(zlib)
 {
 	zlib_globals->ob_gzhandler = NULL;
+    zlib_globals->handler_registered = 0;
 }
 /* }}} */