diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 5d608fa..a2f1020 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 * move stuff to common crate with ws: what about Request/InMessage etc?
 * info hashes, peer ids: check that whole deserialization and url decoding
   works as it should. There are suspicously many `\u{fffd}`
-* AnnounceRequest.compact: parse int to bool
+* AnnounceRequest.compact: handle that it is optional
 
 ## aquatic_ws
 * tests
diff --git a/aquatic_http/src/lib/protocol/mod.rs b/aquatic_http/src/lib/protocol/mod.rs
index 6b50c87..f9321b8 100644
--- a/aquatic_http/src/lib/protocol/mod.rs
+++ b/aquatic_http/src/lib/protocol/mod.rs
@@ -74,8 +74,11 @@ pub struct AnnounceRequest {
     pub bytes_left: usize,
     #[serde(default)]
     pub event: AnnounceEvent,
-    /// FIXME: number: 0 or 1 to bool
-    pub compact: u8,
+    /// FIXME: is optional, so should default to something, maybe `true`
+    #[serde(
+        deserialize_with = "deserialize_bool_from_number"
+    )]
+    pub compact: bool,
     /// Requested number of peers to return
     pub numwant: usize,
 }
diff --git a/aquatic_http/src/lib/protocol/serde_helpers.rs b/aquatic_http/src/lib/protocol/serde_helpers.rs
index 956119c..29ff9b4 100644
--- a/aquatic_http/src/lib/protocol/serde_helpers.rs
+++ b/aquatic_http/src/lib/protocol/serde_helpers.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,40 @@ use serde::{Serializer, Deserializer, de::{Visitor, SeqAccess}};
 use super::{InfoHash, ResponsePeer};
 
 
+struct BoolFromNumberVisitor;
+
+impl<'de> Visitor<'de> for BoolFromNumberVisitor {
+    type Value = bool;
+
+    fn expecting(&self, formatter: &mut std::fmt::Formatter) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        formatter.write_str("1 for true, 0 for false")
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    fn visit_str<E>(self, value: &str) -> Result<Self::Value, E>
+        where E: ::serde::de::Error,
+    {
+        if value == "0" {
+            Ok(false)
+        } else if value == "1" {
+            Ok(true)
+        } else {
+            Err(E::custom(format!("not 0 or 1: {}", value)))
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+
+#[inline]
+pub fn deserialize_bool_from_number<'de, D>(
+    deserializer: D
+) -> Result<bool, D::Error>
+    where D: Deserializer<'de>
+{
+    deserializer.deserialize_any(BoolFromNumberVisitor)
+}
+
+
 struct TwentyCharStringVisitor;
 
 impl<'de> Visitor<'de> for TwentyCharStringVisitor {