diff --git a/ParadoxSaveParser.Lib.Tests/SearchExpressionTests.cs b/ParadoxSaveParser.Lib.Tests/SearchExpressionTests.cs
index ff04c03..a97c6ca 100644
--- a/ParadoxSaveParser.Lib.Tests/SearchExpressionTests.cs
+++ b/ParadoxSaveParser.Lib.Tests/SearchExpressionTests.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 using System.IO;
 using System.Text.Encodings.Web;
 using System.Text.Json;
+using System.Text.Json.Serialization;
 using DTLib.Extensions;
 
 namespace ParadoxSaveParser.Lib.Tests;
@@ -22,7 +23,8 @@ public class SearchExpressionTests
     {
         WriteIndented = false,
         Encoder = JavaScriptEncoder.UnsafeRelaxedJsonEscaping,
-        MaxDepth = 1024
+        MaxDepth = 1024,
+        DefaultIgnoreCondition = JsonIgnoreCondition.WhenWritingNull,
     };
 
     internal static string JsonToPdx(string json)
diff --git a/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/BackgroundTasks/SaveParsingOperation.cs b/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/BackgroundTasks/SaveParsingOperation.cs
index d19e452..ff873be 100644
--- a/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/BackgroundTasks/SaveParsingOperation.cs
+++ b/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/BackgroundTasks/SaveParsingOperation.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 using System.IO.Compression;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Text.Encodings.Web;
+using System.Text.Json.Serialization;
 
 namespace ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI.BackgroundTasks;
 
@@ -15,9 +16,10 @@ public class SaveParsingOperation
 
     private static readonly JsonSerializerOptions _saveSerializerOptions = new()
     {
-        WriteIndented = true,
+        WriteIndented = false,
         Encoder = JavaScriptEncoder.UnsafeRelaxedJsonEscaping,
-        MaxDepth = 1024
+        MaxDepth = 1024,
+        DefaultIgnoreCondition = JsonIgnoreCondition.WhenWritingNull,
     };
 
     public SaveParsingOperation(long operationId, SaveFileMetadata meta, ISearchExpression searchQuery,
diff --git a/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/HttpHelpers/ReturnHelper.cs b/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/HttpHelpers/ReturnHelper.cs
index 369e52f..6c8de9f 100644
--- a/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/HttpHelpers/ReturnHelper.cs
+++ b/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/HttpHelpers/ReturnHelper.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
-using System.Net;
+using System.IO;
+using System.Net;
 using System.Text.Encodings.Web;
+using System.Text.Json.Serialization;
 using DTLib.Extensions;
 
 namespace ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI.HttpHelpers;
@@ -10,7 +12,8 @@ public class ReturnHelper
     {
         WriteIndented = false,
         Encoder = JavaScriptEncoder.UnsafeRelaxedJsonEscaping,
-        MaxDepth = 1024
+        MaxDepth = 1024,
+        DefaultIgnoreCondition = JsonIgnoreCondition.WhenWritingNull,
     };
 
     private static async Task ResponseShort(HttpListenerContext ctx,
@@ -22,7 +25,7 @@ public class ReturnHelper
     {
         ctx.Response.StatusCode = (int)statusCode;
         ctx.Response.ContentType = contentType;
-        logger.LogDebug($"response (length: {value.Length} type: {contentType})");
+        logger.LogDebug($"short response (length: {value.Length} type: {contentType})");
         if (value.Length > 4000)
         {
             logger.LogWarn($"response (length: {value.Length} type: {contentType})\n"
@@ -67,4 +70,27 @@ public class ReturnHelper
     {
         return await ResponseJson(ctx, logger, ct, error, error.StatusCode);
     }
+
+    public static async Task<HttpStatusCode> ResponseStream(HttpListenerContext ctx,
+        ContextLogger logger,
+        CancellationToken ct,
+        Stream valueStream,
+        HttpStatusCode statusCode = HttpStatusCode.OK,
+        string contentType = "application/octet-stream")
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            ctx.Response.StatusCode = (int)statusCode;
+            ctx.Response.ContentType = contentType;
+            logger.LogDebug($"stream response (type: {contentType})");
+            await valueStream.CopyToAsync(ctx.Response.OutputStream, ct);
+            return statusCode;
+        }
+        catch (Exception ex)
+        {
+            return await ResponseError(ctx, logger, ct, 
+                new ErrorMessage(HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError, 
+                ex.ToStringDemystified()));
+        }
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/SaveFileMetadata.cs b/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/SaveFileMetadata.cs
index 59e349a..6f24201 100644
--- a/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/SaveFileMetadata.cs
+++ b/ParadoxSaveParser.WebAPI/SaveFileMetadata.cs
@@ -20,7 +20,11 @@ public enum Game
 
 public class SaveFileMetadata
 {
-    private static readonly JsonSerializerOptions _jsonOptions = new() { WriteIndented = true };
+    private static readonly JsonSerializerOptions _configSerializerOptions = new()
+    {
+        WriteIndented = true,
+        DefaultIgnoreCondition = JsonIgnoreCondition.WhenWritingNull,
+    };
     public required string id { get; init; }
 
     [JsonConverter(typeof(JsonStringEnumConverter))]
@@ -36,6 +40,6 @@ public class SaveFileMetadata
     public void SaveToFile()
     {
         using var metaFile = File.OpenWrite(PathHelper.GetMetaFilePath(id));
-        JsonSerializer.Serialize(metaFile, this, _jsonOptions);
+        JsonSerializer.Serialize(metaFile, this, _configSerializerOptions);
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file