diff --git a/early-init.el b/early-init.el
index 009c6678a..4c1cc7970 100644
--- a/early-init.el
+++ b/early-init.el
@@ -30,13 +30,23 @@
 
 (unless (or (daemonp)
             init-file-debug)
+  ;; PERF: `file-name-handler-alist' is consulted on each `require', `load' and
+  ;;   various path/io functions (like `expand-file-name'). You get a minor, but
+  ;;   noteable, boost by unsetting this.
   (let ((old-file-name-handler-alist file-name-handler-alist))
-    ;; `file-name-handler-alist' is consulted on each `require', `load' and
-    ;; various path/io functions. You get a minor speed up by unsetting this.
-    ;; Some warning, however: this could cause problems on builds of Emacs where
-    ;; its site lisp files aren't byte-compiled and we're forced to load the
-    ;; *.el.gz files (e.g. on Alpine).
-    (setq-default file-name-handler-alist nil)
+    (setq file-name-handler-alist
+          ;; HACK: If the bundled elisp for this Emacs install isn't
+          ;;   byte-compiled (but is compressed), then leave the gzip file
+          ;;   handler there so Emacs won't forget how to read read them.
+          ;;
+          ;;   calc-loaddefs.el is our heuristic for this because it is built-in
+          ;;   in all supported versions of Emacs, and calc.el explicitly load
+          ;;   it uncompiled. This ensure the only other, psosible fallback
+          ;;   would be calc-loaddefs.el.gz.
+          (if (eval-when-compile
+                (locate-file-internal "calc-loaddefs.el" load-path nil))
+              nil
+            (list (rassq 'jka-compr-handler file-name-handler-alist))))
     ;; ...but restore `file-name-handler-alist' later, because it is needed for
     ;; handling encrypted or compressed files, among other things.
     (defun doom-reset-file-handler-alist-h ()
diff --git a/lisp/cli/autoloads.el b/lisp/cli/autoloads.el
index f170a7171..a1ce81003 100644
--- a/lisp/cli/autoloads.el
+++ b/lisp/cli/autoloads.el
@@ -44,18 +44,6 @@ hoist buggy forms into autoloads.")
              (signal 'doom-error
                      (list "The installed version of Doom has changed since last 'doom sync' ran"
                            "Run 'doom sync' to bring Doom up to speed"))))
-         ;; HACK If the bundled elisp for this Emacs install isn't
-         ;;   byte-compiled, disengage the `file-name-handler-alist'
-         ;;   optimization early to prevent encoding errors when Emacs tries to
-         ;;   read gzipped elisp.
-         ;;
-         ;;   calc-loaddefs.el is a good heuristic for this because calc.el
-         ;;   explicitly tries to load the un-compiled calc-loaddefs.el. If it
-         ;;   doesn't exist, it'll go for calc-loaddefs.el.gz instead.
-         (unless (locate-file "calc-loaddefs.el" (get 'load-path 'initial-value) nil)
-           `((when (fboundp 'doom-reset-file-handler-alist-h)
-               (doom-reset-file-handler-alist-h)
-               (remove-hook 'emacs-startup-hook #'doom-reset-file-handler-alist-h))))
          (cl-loop for var in doom-autoloads-cached-vars
                   when (boundp var)
                   collect `(set ',var ',(symbol-value var)))