diff --git a/scripts/package/Makefile b/scripts/package/Makefile
index d0b931b994fccebc025c1c281c8cfd1573b7f64b..a834b935f5363d80ab56b15a1acf3cb477f21e42 100644
--- a/scripts/package/Makefile
+++ b/scripts/package/Makefile
@@ -127,7 +127,8 @@ rm -r $(perf-tar);                                                  \
 $(if $(findstring tar-src,$@),,                                     \
 $(if $(findstring bz2,$@),bzip2,                                    \
 $(if $(findstring gz,$@),gzip,                                      \
-$(error unknown target $@)))                                       \
+$(if $(findstring xz,$@),xz,                                        \
+$(error unknown target $@))))                                       \
 	-f -9 $(perf-tar).tar)
 
 perf-%pkg: FORCE
@@ -142,7 +143,9 @@ help: FORCE
 	@echo '  tar-pkg             - Build the kernel as an uncompressed tarball'
 	@echo '  targz-pkg           - Build the kernel as a gzip compressed tarball'
 	@echo '  tarbz2-pkg          - Build the kernel as a bzip2 compressed tarball'
+	@echo '  tarxz-pkg           - Build the kernel as a xz compressed tarball'
 	@echo '  perf-tar-src-pkg    - Build $(perf-tar).tar source tarball'
 	@echo '  perf-targz-src-pkg  - Build $(perf-tar).tar.gz source tarball'
 	@echo '  perf-tarbz2-src-pkg - Build $(perf-tar).tar.bz2 source tarball'
+	@echo '  perf-tarxz-src-pkg  - Build $(perf-tar).tar.xz source tarball'
 
diff --git a/scripts/package/buildtar b/scripts/package/buildtar
index 51b2aa0acb82db959b67ca1170439c436ae0ab3b..83c9c04102f2bc9fd06d783d31df60eb5e793c5d 100644
--- a/scripts/package/buildtar
+++ b/scripts/package/buildtar
@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ case "${1}" in
 		compress="bzip2 -c9"
 		file_ext=".bz2"
 		;;
+	tarxz-pkg)
+		compress="xz -c9"
+		file_ext=".xz"
+		;;
 	*)
 		echo "Unknown tarball target \"${1}\" requested, please add it to ${0}." >&2
 		exit 1