diff --git a/archivebox/config.py b/archivebox/config.py
index 26f67b1a..29ed2df2 100644
--- a/archivebox/config.py
+++ b/archivebox/config.py
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ TEMPLATES_DIR = os.path.join(PYTHON_PATH, 'templates')
 CHROME_SANDBOX = os.getenv('CHROME_SANDBOX', 'True').lower() == 'true'
 USE_CHROME = FETCH_PDF or FETCH_SCREENSHOT or FETCH_DOM
 USE_WGET = FETCH_WGET or FETCH_WGET_REQUISITES or FETCH_WARC
-WGET_AUTO_COMPRESSION =   not run([WGET_BINARY, "--compression=auto", "--help"], stdout=DEVNULL).returncode
+WGET_AUTO_COMPRESSION = USE_WGET and WGET_BINARY and (not run([WGET_BINARY, "--compression=auto", "--help"], stdout=DEVNULL).returncode)
 
 ########################### Environment & Dependencies #########################