diff --git a/docs/middleware.md b/docs/middleware.md
index aa9d119fe..aecffc3bf 100644
--- a/docs/middleware.md
+++ b/docs/middleware.md
@@ -239,9 +239,27 @@ The following arguments are supported:
 
 * `minimum_size` - Do not GZip responses that are smaller than this minimum size in bytes. Defaults to `500`.
 * `compresslevel` - Used during GZip compression. It is an integer ranging from 1 to 9. Defaults to `9`. Lower value results in faster compression but larger file sizes, while higher value results in slower compression but smaller file sizes.
+* `excluded_content_types` - A tuple of content type prefixes that should not be compressed. Defaults to `("text/event-stream", "application/zip", "application/gzip", "application/x-gzip", "image/", "video/", "audio/")`. You can customize this to add or remove content types as needed.
 
-The middleware won't GZip responses that already have either a `Content-Encoding` set, to prevent them from
-being encoded twice, or a `Content-Type` set to `text/event-stream`, to avoid compressing server-sent events.
+The middleware won't GZip responses that:
+
+* Already have a `Content-Encoding` set, to prevent them from being encoded twice
+* Have a `Content-Type` that starts with any of the prefixes in `excluded_content_types`
+
+By default, the following content types are excluded:
+
+* `text/event-stream` - Server-sent events should not be compressed
+* Already compressed formats: `application/zip`, `application/gzip`, `application/x-gzip`
+* Media files: `image/*`, `video/*`, `audio/*` (any image, video, or audio format)
+
+### Customizing excluded content types
+
+You can provide your own list of excluded content types:
+```python
+middleware = [
+    Middleware(GZipMiddleware, minimum_size=1000, compresslevel=9, excluded_content_types=("text/event-stream", "image/"))
+]
+```
 
 ## BaseHTTPMiddleware
 
diff --git a/starlette/middleware/gzip.py b/starlette/middleware/gzip.py
index abd898b2d..c3507554c 100644
--- a/starlette/middleware/gzip.py
+++ b/starlette/middleware/gzip.py
@@ -5,14 +5,27 @@
 from starlette.datastructures import Headers, MutableHeaders
 from starlette.types import ASGIApp, Message, Receive, Scope, Send
 
-DEFAULT_EXCLUDED_CONTENT_TYPES = ("text/event-stream",)
-
 
 class GZipMiddleware:
-    def __init__(self, app: ASGIApp, minimum_size: int = 500, compresslevel: int = 9) -> None:
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        app: ASGIApp,
+        minimum_size: int = 500,
+        compresslevel: int = 9,
+        excluded_content_types: tuple[str, ...] = (
+            "text/event-stream",
+            "application/zip",
+            "application/gzip",
+            "application/x-gzip",
+            "image/",
+            "video/",
+            "audio/",
+        ),
+    ) -> None:
         self.app = app
         self.minimum_size = minimum_size
         self.compresslevel = compresslevel
+        self.excluded_content_types = excluded_content_types
 
     async def __call__(self, scope: Scope, receive: Receive, send: Send) -> None:
         if scope["type"] != "http":  # pragma: no cover
@@ -22,9 +35,11 @@ async def __call__(self, scope: Scope, receive: Receive, send: Send) -> None:
         headers = Headers(scope=scope)
         responder: ASGIApp
         if "gzip" in headers.get("Accept-Encoding", ""):
-            responder = GZipResponder(self.app, self.minimum_size, compresslevel=self.compresslevel)
+            responder = GZipResponder(
+                self.app, self.minimum_size, self.excluded_content_types, compresslevel=self.compresslevel
+            )
         else:
-            responder = IdentityResponder(self.app, self.minimum_size)
+            responder = IdentityResponder(self.app, self.minimum_size, self.excluded_content_types)
 
         await responder(scope, receive, send)
 
@@ -32,7 +47,12 @@ async def __call__(self, scope: Scope, receive: Receive, send: Send) -> None:
 class IdentityResponder:
     content_encoding: str
 
-    def __init__(self, app: ASGIApp, minimum_size: int) -> None:
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        app: ASGIApp,
+        minimum_size: int,
+        excluded_content_types: tuple[str, ...],
+    ) -> None:
         self.app = app
         self.minimum_size = minimum_size
         self.send: Send = unattached_send
@@ -40,6 +60,7 @@ def __init__(self, app: ASGIApp, minimum_size: int) -> None:
         self.started = False
         self.content_encoding_set = False
         self.content_type_is_excluded = False
+        self.excluded_content_types = excluded_content_types
 
     async def __call__(self, scope: Scope, receive: Receive, send: Send) -> None:
         self.send = send
@@ -53,7 +74,9 @@ async def send_with_compression(self, message: Message) -> None:
             self.initial_message = message
             headers = Headers(raw=self.initial_message["headers"])
             self.content_encoding_set = "content-encoding" in headers
-            self.content_type_is_excluded = headers.get("content-type", "").startswith(DEFAULT_EXCLUDED_CONTENT_TYPES)
+            self.content_type_is_excluded = any(
+                headers.get("content-type", "").startswith(ct) for ct in self.excluded_content_types
+            )
         elif message_type == "http.response.body" and (self.content_encoding_set or self.content_type_is_excluded):
             if not self.started:
                 self.started = True
@@ -119,8 +142,10 @@ def apply_compression(self, body: bytes, *, more_body: bool) -> bytes:
 class GZipResponder(IdentityResponder):
     content_encoding = "gzip"
 
-    def __init__(self, app: ASGIApp, minimum_size: int, compresslevel: int = 9) -> None:
-        super().__init__(app, minimum_size)
+    def __init__(
+        self, app: ASGIApp, minimum_size: int, excluded_content_types: tuple[str, ...], compresslevel: int = 9
+    ) -> None:
+        super().__init__(app, minimum_size, excluded_content_types)
 
         self.gzip_buffer = io.BytesIO()
         self.gzip_file = gzip.GzipFile(mode="wb", fileobj=self.gzip_buffer, compresslevel=compresslevel)
diff --git a/tests/middleware/test_gzip.py b/tests/middleware/test_gzip.py
index 3a2f2e0f3..344492a59 100644
--- a/tests/middleware/test_gzip.py
+++ b/tests/middleware/test_gzip.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from starlette.middleware import Middleware
 from starlette.middleware.gzip import GZipMiddleware
 from starlette.requests import Request
-from starlette.responses import ContentStream, FileResponse, PlainTextResponse, StreamingResponse
+from starlette.responses import ContentStream, FileResponse, PlainTextResponse, Response, StreamingResponse
 from starlette.routing import Route
 from starlette.types import Message
 from tests.types import TestClientFactory
@@ -163,6 +163,37 @@ async def generator(bytes: bytes, count: int) -> ContentStream:
     assert "Content-Length" not in response.headers
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "content_type,content",
+    [
+        ("image/png", b"\x89PNG\r\n\x1a\n" + b"x" * 1000),
+        ("image/jpeg", b"\xff\xd8\xff" + b"x" * 1000),
+        ("video/mp4", b"x" * 1000),
+        ("audio/mpeg", b"x" * 1000),
+        ("application/zip", b"PK\x03\x04" + b"x" * 1000),
+        ("application/gzip", b"\x1f\x8b" + b"x" * 1000),
+        ("application/x-gzip", b"\x1f\x8b" + b"x" * 1000),
+    ],
+)
+def test_gzip_ignored_on_compressed_content_types(
+    test_client_factory: TestClientFactory, content_type: str, content: bytes
+) -> None:
+    def endpoint(request: Request) -> Response:
+        return Response(content, status_code=200, media_type=content_type)
+
+    app = Starlette(
+        routes=[Route("/", endpoint=endpoint)],
+        middleware=[Middleware(GZipMiddleware)],
+    )
+
+    client = test_client_factory(app)
+    response = client.get("/", headers={"accept-encoding": "gzip"})
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert response.content == content
+    assert "Content-Encoding" not in response.headers
+    assert int(response.headers["Content-Length"]) == len(content)
+
+
 @pytest.mark.anyio
 async def test_gzip_ignored_for_pathsend_responses(tmpdir: Path) -> None:
     path = tmpdir / "example.txt"