We consider the evolution of nonlinear optical pulses in cubic-quintic nonlinear media wherein the pulse propagation is governed by the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation with exponentially varying dispersion, cubic, and quintic nonlinearities and gain and/or loss. Using a self-similar analysis, we find the chirped bright soliton solutions in the anomalous and normal dispersion regimes. From a stability analysis, we show that the soliton in the anomalous dispersion regime is stable, whereas the soliton in the normal dispersion regime is unstable. Numerical simulation results show that competing cubic-quintic nonlinearities stabilize the chirped soliton pulse propagation against perturbations in the initial soliton pulse parameters. We characterize the quality of the compressed pulse by determining the pedestal energy generated and compression factor when the initial pulse is perturbed from the soliton solutions. Finally, we study the possibility of rapid compression of Townes solitons by the collapse phenomenon and the exponentially decreasing dispersion. We find that the collapse could be postponed if the dispersion increases exponentially. © 2008 The American Physical Society.