diff --git a/debian/bin/genorig.py b/debian/bin/genorig.py
index 0a6d6a4cc..6ec909161 100755
--- a/debian/bin/genorig.py
+++ b/debian/bin/genorig.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class Main(object):
         self.log('Using source name %s, version %s, dfsg %s\n' % (source, version.upstream, self.version_dfsg))
 
         self.orig = '%s-%s' % (source, version.upstream)
-        self.orig_tar = '%s_%s.orig.tar.gz' % (source, version.upstream)
+        self.orig_tar = '%s_%s.orig.tar.xz' % (source, version.upstream)
         self.tag = 'v' + version.linux_upstream_full
 
     def __call__(self):
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ class Main(object):
         except OSError:
             pass
         self.log("Generate tarball %s\n" % out)
-        cmdline = ['tar -czf', out, '-C', self.dir, self.orig]
+        cmdline = ['tar -caf', out, '-C', self.dir, self.orig]
         try:
             if os.spawnv(os.P_WAIT, '/bin/sh', ['sh', '-c', ' '.join(cmdline)]):
                 raise RuntimeError("Can't patch source")
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 3272fdd40..f7ce8e080 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ linux (3.2.19-2) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
   * Rename source package to 'linux' (Closes: #636010)
   * Convert source package format to 3.0 (quilt)
     - Convert patch system to quilt, except for the 'orig' patch series
+    - Use xz compression for upstream and Debian tarballs
   * linux-image: Change package name for bugs to 'src:linux' (Closes: #644198)
   * DFSG: video: Remove nvidiafb and rivafb, which include apparently
     obfuscated code (Closes: #383481).  The nouveau driver supports all
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index 4e0e9c54d..458bc289b 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ $(STAMPS_DIR)/build-base: $(STAMPS_DIR)/setup-base
 	@$(stamp)
 
 DIR_ORIG = ../orig/$(SOURCE)-$(VERSION_UPSTREAM)
-TAR_ORIG_NAME = $(SOURCE)_$(VERSION_UPSTREAM).orig.tar.gz
+TAR_ORIG_NAME = $(SOURCE)_$(VERSION_UPSTREAM).orig.tar.xz
 TAR_ORIG = $(firstword $(wildcard ../$(TAR_ORIG_NAME)) $(wildcard ../orig/$(TAR_ORIG_NAME)))
 
 orig: $(DIR_ORIG)
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ ifeq ($(TAR_ORIG),)
 	$(error Cannot find orig tarball $(TAR_ORIG_NAME))
 else
 	mkdir -p ../orig
-	tar -C ../orig -xzf $(TAR_ORIG)
+	tar -C ../orig -xaf $(TAR_ORIG)
 endif
 
 maintainerclean:
diff --git a/debian/source/options b/debian/source/options
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b7bc1f2b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/source/options
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+compression = "xz"