diff --git a/lib/cartodb/controllers/base.js b/lib/cartodb/controllers/base.js
index 07758977..2986f97e 100644
--- a/lib/cartodb/controllers/base.js
+++ b/lib/cartodb/controllers/base.js
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@ function BaseController(authApi, pgConnection) {
 
 module.exports = BaseController;
 
-// jshint maxcomplexity:6
-
 // jshint maxcomplexity:9
 BaseController.prototype.send = function(req, res, body, status, headers) {
     if (req.params.dbhost) {
diff --git a/lib/cartodb/middleware/lzma.js b/lib/cartodb/middleware/lzma.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6655cdeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/cartodb/middleware/lzma.js
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const LZMA = require('lzma').LZMA;
+
+const lzmaWorker = new LZMA();
+
+module.exports = function lzmaMiddleware(req, res, next) {
+    if (!req.query.hasOwnProperty('lzma')) {
+        return next();
+    }
+
+    // Decode (from base64)
+    var lzma = new Buffer(req.query.lzma, 'base64')
+        .toString('binary')
+        .split('')
+        .map(function(c) {
+            return c.charCodeAt(0) - 128;
+        });
+
+    // Decompress
+    lzmaWorker.decompress(lzma, function(result) {
+        try {
+            delete req.query.lzma;
+            Object.assign(req.query, JSON.parse(result));
+            next();
+        } catch (err) {
+            next(new Error('Error parsing lzma as JSON: ' + err));
+        }
+    });
+};
diff --git a/lib/cartodb/middleware/req2params-middleware.js b/lib/cartodb/middleware/req2params-middleware.js
index dc67c117..d6e0a5d1 100644
--- a/lib/cartodb/middleware/req2params-middleware.js
+++ b/lib/cartodb/middleware/req2params-middleware.js
@@ -2,9 +2,6 @@ var assert = require('assert');
 var _ = require('underscore');
 var step = require('step');
 
-var LZMA = require('lzma').LZMA;
-var lzmaWorker = new LZMA();
-
 
 // Whitelist query parameters and attach format
 var REQUEST_QUERY_PARAMS_WHITELIST = [
@@ -20,7 +17,7 @@ var REQUEST_QUERY_PARAMS_WHITELIST = [
     'filters' // json
 ];
 
-// jshint maxcomplexity:10
+// jshint maxcomplexity:8
 /**
  * Whitelist input and get database name & default geometry type from
  * subdomain/user metadata held in CartoDB Redis
@@ -29,35 +26,6 @@ var REQUEST_QUERY_PARAMS_WHITELIST = [
  */
 module.exports = function req2paramsMiddleware (authApi, pgConnection) {
     return function req2params (req, res, next) {
-        if ( req.query.lzma ) {
-
-            // Decode (from base64)
-            var lzma = new Buffer(req.query.lzma, 'base64')
-                .toString('binary')
-                .split('')
-                .map(function(c) {
-                    return c.charCodeAt(0) - 128;
-                });
-
-
-            // Decompress
-            lzmaWorker.decompress(
-                lzma,
-                function(result) {
-                    req.profiler.done('lzma');
-                    try {
-                        delete req.query.lzma;
-                        _.extend(req.query, JSON.parse(result));
-                        req2params(req, res, next);
-                    } catch (err) {
-                        req.profiler.done('req2params');
-                        next(new Error('Error parsing lzma as JSON: ' + err));
-                    }
-                }
-            );
-            return;
-        }
-
         var allowedQueryParams = REQUEST_QUERY_PARAMS_WHITELIST;
         if (Array.isArray(req.context.allowedQueryParams)) {
             allowedQueryParams = allowedQueryParams.concat(req.context.allowedQueryParams);
diff --git a/lib/cartodb/server.js b/lib/cartodb/server.js
index 75b26145..8e5a2b7a 100644
--- a/lib/cartodb/server.js
+++ b/lib/cartodb/server.js
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ var MapConfigAdapter = require('./models/mapconfig/adapter');
 
 var StatsBackend = require('./backends/stats');
 
+const lzmaMiddleware = require('./middleware/lzma');
 const errorMiddleware = require('./middleware/error-middleware');
 
 module.exports = function(serverOptions) {
@@ -376,6 +377,8 @@ function bootstrap(opts) {
         next();
     });
 
+    app.use(lzmaMiddleware);
+
     // temporary measure until we upgrade to newer version expressjs so we can check err.status
     app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
         if (err) {
diff --git a/test/unit/cartodb/lzmaMiddleware.test.js b/test/unit/cartodb/lzmaMiddleware.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9a41030a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/cartodb/lzmaMiddleware.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+var assert = require('assert');
+var testHelper = require('../../support/test_helper');
+
+var lzmaMiddleware = require('../../../lib/cartodb/middleware/lzma');
+
+describe('lzma-middleware', function() {
+
+    it('it should extend params with decoded lzma', function(done) {
+        var qo = {
+            config: {
+                version: '1.3.0'
+            }
+        };
+        testHelper.lzma_compress_to_base64(JSON.stringify(qo), 1, function(err, data) {
+            var req = {
+                headers: {
+                    host:'localhost'
+                },
+                query: {
+                    api_key: 'test',
+                    lzma: data
+                }
+            };
+            lzmaMiddleware(req, {}, function(err) {
+                if ( err ) {
+                    return done(err);
+                }
+                var query = req.query;
+                assert.deepEqual(qo.config, query.config);
+                assert.equal('test', query.api_key);
+                done();
+            });
+        });
+    });
+
+});
diff --git a/test/unit/cartodb/req2params.test.js b/test/unit/cartodb/req2params.test.js
index cd067254..5edf36c4 100644
--- a/test/unit/cartodb/req2params.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/cartodb/req2params.test.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 var assert = require('assert');
 var _ = require('underscore');
-var test_helper = require('../../support/test_helper');
 
 var RedisPool = require('redis-mpool');
 var cartodbRedis = require('cartodb-redis');
@@ -101,35 +100,32 @@ describe('req2params', function() {
       });
     });
 
-    it('it should extend params with decoded lzma', function(done) {
-        var qo = {
-            config: {
-                version: '1.3.0'
+    it('it should remove invalid params', function(done) {
+        var config = {
+            version: '1.3.0'
+        };
+        var req = {
+            headers: {
+                host:'localhost'
+            },
+            query: {
+                non_included: 'toberemoved',
+                api_key: 'test',
+                style: 'override',
+                config: config
             }
         };
-        test_helper.lzma_compress_to_base64(JSON.stringify(qo), 1, function(err, data) {
-            var req = {
-                headers: {
-                    host:'localhost'
-                },
-                query: {
-                    non_included: 'toberemoved',
-                    api_key: 'test',
-                    style: 'override',
-                    lzma: data
-                }
-            };
-            var res = {};
-            req2params(prepareRequest(req), res, function(err, req) {
-                if ( err ) {
-                    return done(err);
-                }
-                var query = req.params;
-                assert.deepEqual(qo.config, query.config);
-                assert.equal('test', query.api_key);
-                assert.equal(undefined, query.non_included);
-                done();
-            });
+        var res = {};
+
+        req2params(prepareRequest(req), res, function(err, req) {
+            if ( err ) {
+                return done(err);
+            }
+            var query = req.params;
+            assert.deepEqual(config, query.config);
+            assert.equal('test', query.api_key);
+            assert.equal(undefined, query.non_included);
+            done();
         });
     });