# How to serve static files in Django Production with WhiteNoise?

# Introduction:

You might have faced this situation while deploying your **Django** project to the production, when the **static** files were not available after adding `DEBUG=False` in `settings.py` file. Because **Django** is not capable of serving the static files in production.

 In that case, you have few ways to fix the **static** file issue, such as:

- Using **Nginx/Apache** to serve static files.
- Using an Object storage such as **AWS S3** to server the static files.
- Using **WhiteNoise** to serve the static files via **Django** itself.

# Using WhiteNoise:

- Let’s **install** it first in our **Django** project:

```bash
pip install whitenoise
```

- Modify your `settings.py` file and add the line given below in your **middleware** list just after `django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware`

```python
"whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware",
```

So your **middleware** will look something like this now:

```python
MIDDLEWARE = [
    # Other middlewares...
    "django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware",
    "whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware",
    # Other middlewares...
]
```

- The last step (Optional) is to add a new **storage backend** for **static** files. **WhiteNoise** has a nice **storage backend** which will take care of **Compressing** and **Caching** for you. Let’s add this line at the end of our `settings.py` files.
    
    We get two **storage backends** from **WhiteNoise,** we can use any one of them.
    

```python
# If you just want compression
STATICFILES_STORAGE = "whitenoise.storage.CompressedStaticFilesStorage"
```

```python
# If you want compression with caching
STATICFILES_STORAGE = "whitenoise.storage.CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage"
```

You are all set now. Deploy your project and Enjoy!

> ***For more such crispy blogs daily, follow Dev.Junction, subscribe to our newsletter and get notified.***
> 

## Social Links

- **LinkedIn:** [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mnamegaurav/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mnamegaurav/)
- **YouTube:** [https://www.youtube.com/c/devjunction](https://www.youtube.com/c/devjunction)
- **Website:** [https://gaurav.devjunction.in/](https://gaurav.devjunction.in/)
- **GitHub:** [https://github.com/mnamegaurav](https://github.com/mnamegaurav)
- **Instagram:** [https://www.instagram.com/mnamegaurav/](https://www.instagram.com/mnamegaurav/)
- **Twitter:** [https://twitter.com/mnamegaurav](https://twitter.com/mnamegaurav)