diff --git a/.tx/config b/.tx/config
index 0c2fac36ec..244e45fb98 100644
--- a/.tx/config
+++ b/.tx/config
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 host = https://www.transifex.com
 
 [zulip.djangopo]
-source_file = locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
+source_file = static/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
 source_lang = en
 type = PO
-file_filter = locale/<lang>/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
+file_filter = static/locale/<lang>/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
 lang_map = zh-Hans: zh_CN
 
 [zulip.translationsjson]
diff --git a/locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/django.po b/static/locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
similarity index 100%
rename from locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
rename to static/locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
diff --git a/locale/es/LC_MESSAGES/django.po b/static/locale/es/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
similarity index 100%
rename from locale/es/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
rename to static/locale/es/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
diff --git a/locale/fr/LC_MESSAGES/django.po b/static/locale/fr/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
similarity index 100%
rename from locale/fr/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
rename to static/locale/fr/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
diff --git a/locale/ja/LC_MESSAGES/django.po b/static/locale/ja/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
similarity index 100%
rename from locale/ja/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
rename to static/locale/ja/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
diff --git a/locale/ko/LC_MESSAGES/django.po b/static/locale/ko/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
similarity index 100%
rename from locale/ko/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
rename to static/locale/ko/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
diff --git a/locale/pt/LC_MESSAGES/django.po b/static/locale/pt/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
similarity index 100%
rename from locale/pt/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
rename to static/locale/pt/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
diff --git a/locale/ru/LC_MESSAGES/django.po b/static/locale/ru/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
similarity index 100%
rename from locale/ru/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
rename to static/locale/ru/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
diff --git a/locale/sr/LC_MESSAGES/django.po b/static/locale/sr/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
similarity index 100%
rename from locale/sr/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
rename to static/locale/sr/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
diff --git a/locale/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/django.po b/static/locale/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
similarity index 100%
rename from locale/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
rename to static/locale/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/django.po
diff --git a/tools/build-release-tarball b/tools/build-release-tarball
index 33fa921000..8171906297 100755
--- a/tools/build-release-tarball
+++ b/tools/build-release-tarball
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ find prod-static/serve/third/gemoji/images/emoji/ -regex '.*\.[0-9a-f]+\.png' -d
 
 cd "$TMPDIR"
 
-tar --append -f "$TARBALL" "$prefix/prod-static" "$prefix/build_id" "$prefix/version" "$prefix/locale"
+tar --append -f "$TARBALL" "$prefix/prod-static" "$prefix/build_id" "$prefix/version"
 
 rm -rf "$prefix"
 
diff --git a/tools/update-prod-static b/tools/update-prod-static
index 7ed4d716c4..36bba21fbb 100755
--- a/tools/update-prod-static
+++ b/tools/update-prod-static
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ subprocess.check_call(['mv', os.path.join(settings.STATIC_ROOT, 'source-map'),
                       stdout=fp, stderr=fp)
 
 # Move language_options.json to the production release
-subprocess.check_call(['mv', 'static/locale/language_options.json',
-                       os.path.join(settings.STATIC_ROOT, 'locale/language_options.json')],
+subprocess.check_call(['mv', 'static/locale',
+                       os.path.join(settings.STATIC_ROOT, 'locale')],
                       stdout=fp, stderr=fp)
 
 fp.close()
diff --git a/zerver/management/commands/compilemessages.py b/zerver/management/commands/compilemessages.py
index 33686236e7..ab6a29340a 100644
--- a/zerver/management/commands/compilemessages.py
+++ b/zerver/management/commands/compilemessages.py
@@ -16,10 +16,8 @@ class Command(compilemessages.Command):
         self.extract_language_options()
 
     def extract_language_options(self):
-        DEPLOY_ROOT = settings.DEPLOY_ROOT
-
-        output_path = "{}/static/locale/language_options.json".format(DEPLOY_ROOT)
-        locale_path = "{}/locale".format(DEPLOY_ROOT)
+        locale_path = "{}/locale".format(settings.STATIC_ROOT)
+        output_path = "{}/language_options.json".format(locale_path)
 
         po_template = '{}/{}/LC_MESSAGES/django.po'
         data = {'languages': []}  # type: Dict[str, List[Dict[str, str]]]
@@ -38,6 +36,9 @@ class Command(compilemessages.Command):
                 name = 'Simplified Chinese'
             else:
                 filename = po_template.format(locale_path, locale)
+                if not os.path.exists(filename):
+                    continue
+
                 with open(filename, 'r') as reader:
                     result = lang_name_re.search(reader.read())
                     if result:
@@ -56,4 +57,4 @@ class Command(compilemessages.Command):
                 data['languages'].append(info)
 
         with open(output_path, 'w') as writer:
-            ujson.dump(data, writer)
+            ujson.dump(data, writer, indent=2)
diff --git a/zproject/settings.py b/zproject/settings.py
index bda88e7d5c..e6a2a40937 100644
--- a/zproject/settings.py
+++ b/zproject/settings.py
@@ -220,7 +220,6 @@ USE_L10N = True
 USE_TZ = True
 
 DEPLOY_ROOT = os.path.join(os.path.realpath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), '..')
-LOCALE_PATHS = (os.path.join(DEPLOY_ROOT, 'locale'),)
 # this directory will be used to store logs for development environment
 DEVELOPMENT_LOG_DIRECTORY = os.path.join(DEPLOY_ROOT, 'var', 'log')
 # Make redirects work properly behind a reverse proxy
@@ -560,6 +559,8 @@ else:
     else:
         STATIC_ROOT = os.path.abspath('prod-static/serve')
 
+LOCALE_PATHS = (os.path.join(STATIC_ROOT, 'locale'),)
+
 # We want all temporary uploaded files to be stored on disk.
 FILE_UPLOAD_MAX_MEMORY_SIZE = 0