php artisan serve throws errors when zlib activated - php

Question

I noticed a strange behaviour in my local development machine.
I'm developing a Laravel/VueJS based application.
My system:
Ubuntu 18.04.3
Laravel 5.5.44
PHP 7.3.12
After having launched the dev server with the usual php artisan serve, it's impossible to connect to the app on localhost:8000.
The app is only partially loaded. The html seems to load but the assets (css, js) are not. I get loads of net::ERR_INVALID_HTTP_RESPONSE on Chrome console but no errors at all in the artisan console.
On the other hand, the problem is solved when I launch the server with php -S localhost:8000 -t public.
I discovered that the problem seems related to the zlib php library. When it's activated, artisan trhows errors, otherwise everything works flawlessly.
I can work it out, but I'd like to understand why I get this strange behaviour.
EDIT
I attach the messages from Google Chrome console.
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_INVALID_HTTP_RESPONSE FD_logo_white_text.png:1
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_INVALID_HTTP_RESPONSE FD_logo.png:1
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_INVALID_HTTP_RESPONSE app.js:1
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_INVALID_HTTP_RESPONSE app.css:1
Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'init' of undefined (index):1
at (index):1
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_INVALID_HTTP_RESPONSE white-arrow.png:1
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_INVALID_HTTP_RESPONSE 7.jpg:1
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_INVALID_HTTP_RESPONSE 4.jpg:1
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_INVALID_HTTP_RESPONSE manifest.json:1
Moreover, here is a screenshot of the Network tab on Google Console.