diff --git a/Lib/gzip.py b/Lib/gzip.py
index 6773ea3eef0971..5b20e5ba698ee9 100644
--- a/Lib/gzip.py
+++ b/Lib/gzip.py
@@ -587,7 +587,8 @@ def compress(data, compresslevel=_COMPRESS_LEVEL_BEST, *, mtime=None):
     header = _create_simple_gzip_header(compresslevel, mtime)
     trailer = struct.pack("<LL", zlib.crc32(data), (len(data) & 0xffffffff))
     # Wbits=-15 creates a raw deflate block.
-    return header + zlib.compress(data, wbits=-15) + trailer
+    return (header + zlib.compress(data, level=compresslevel, wbits=-15) +
+            trailer)
 
 
 def decompress(data):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-03-21-13-50-07.bpo-46681.RRhopn.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-03-21-13-50-07.bpo-46681.RRhopn.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..7668605698cab5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-03-21-13-50-07.bpo-46681.RRhopn.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Forward gzip.compress() compresslevel to zlib.