diff --git a/vndk/tools/header-checker/utils/create_reference_dumps.py b/vndk/tools/header-checker/utils/create_reference_dumps.py
index f7769955c..160bf75db 100755
--- a/vndk/tools/header-checker/utils/create_reference_dumps.py
+++ b/vndk/tools/header-checker/utils/create_reference_dumps.py
@@ -59,7 +59,8 @@ def get_lib_arch_str(target):
 
 
 def find_and_copy_lib_lsdumps(target, ref_dump_dir_stem, ref_dump_dir_insertion,
-                              core_or_vendor_shared_str, libs, lsdump_paths):
+                              core_or_vendor_shared_str, libs, lsdump_paths,
+                              compress):
     arch_lsdump_paths = find_lib_lsdumps(target.arch, target.arch_variant,
                                          target.cpu_variant, lsdump_paths,
                                          core_or_vendor_shared_str,
@@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ def find_and_copy_lib_lsdumps(target, ref_dump_dir_stem, ref_dump_dir_insertion,
     # reference  directory.
     return copy_reference_dumps(arch_lsdump_paths, ref_dump_dir_stem,
                                 ref_dump_dir_insertion,
-                                get_lib_arch_str(target))
+                                get_lib_arch_str(target), compress)
 
 def choose_vndk_version(args_version, platform_vndk_version,
                         board_vndk_version):
@@ -167,11 +168,11 @@ def create_source_abi_reference_dumps(args, product,
         assert(target.primary_arch != '')
         num_libs_copied += find_and_copy_lib_lsdumps(
             target, ref_dump_dir_stem_vndk, ref_dump_dir_insertion,
-            '_vendor_shared', args.libs, lsdump_paths)
+            '_vendor_shared', args.libs, lsdump_paths, args.compress)
 
         num_libs_copied += find_and_copy_lib_lsdumps(
             target, ref_dump_dir_stem_ndk, ref_dump_dir_insertion,
-            '_core_shared', args.libs, lsdump_paths)
+            '_core_shared', args.libs, lsdump_paths, args.compress)
 
     return num_libs_copied
 
@@ -193,6 +194,8 @@ def main():
     parser.add_argument('-ref-dump-dir',
                         help='directory to copy reference abi dumps into',
                         default=os.path.join(AOSP_DIR,'prebuilts/abi-dumps'))
+    parser.add_argument('--compress', action='store_true',
+                        help='compress reference dump with gzip')
     args = parser.parse_args()
     num_processed = 0
     # Remove reference dumps specified by libs / all of them if none specified,
diff --git a/vndk/tools/header-checker/utils/utils.py b/vndk/tools/header-checker/utils/utils.py
index 8ddc9c314..48db85b44 100644
--- a/vndk/tools/header-checker/utils/utils.py
+++ b/vndk/tools/header-checker/utils/utils.py
@@ -42,23 +42,29 @@ def get_reference_dump_dir(reference_dump_dir_stem,
 
 
 def copy_reference_dumps(lib_paths, reference_dir_stem,
-                         reference_dump_dir_insertion, lib_arch):
+                         reference_dump_dir_insertion, lib_arch, compress):
     reference_dump_dir = get_reference_dump_dir(reference_dir_stem,
                                                 reference_dump_dir_insertion,
                                                 lib_arch)
     num_created = 0
     for lib_path in lib_paths:
-        copy_reference_dump(lib_path, reference_dump_dir)
+        copy_reference_dump(lib_path, reference_dump_dir, compress)
         num_created += 1
     return num_created
 
-def copy_reference_dump(lib_path, reference_dump_dir):
-    reference_dump_path = os.path.join(reference_dump_dir,
-                                       os.path.basename(lib_path)) + '.gz'
+def copy_reference_dump(lib_path, reference_dump_dir, compress):
+    reference_dump_path = os.path.join(
+        reference_dump_dir, os.path.basename(lib_path))
+    if compress:
+        reference_dump_path += '.gz'
     os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(reference_dump_path), exist_ok=True)
     output_content = read_output_content(lib_path, AOSP_DIR)
-    with gzip.open(reference_dump_path, 'wb') as f:
-        f.write(bytes(output_content, 'utf-8'))
+    if compress:
+        with gzip.open(reference_dump_path, 'wb') as f:
+            f.write(bytes(output_content, 'utf-8'))
+    else:
+        with open(reference_dump_path, 'wb') as f:
+            f.write(bytes(output_content, 'utf-8'))
     print('Created abi dump at ', reference_dump_path)
     return reference_dump_path