diff --git a/Lib/shutil.py b/Lib/shutil.py
--- a/Lib/shutil.py
+++ b/Lib/shutil.py
@@ -21,6 +21,13 @@ except ImportError:
     _BZ2_SUPPORTED = False
 
 try:
+    import lzma
+    del lzma
+    _XZ_SUPPORTED = True
+except ImportError:
+    _XZ_SUPPORTED = False
+
+try:
     from pwd import getpwnam
 except ImportError:
     getpwnam = None
@@ -436,17 +443,24 @@ def _make_tarball(base_name, base_dir, c
     will be used.
 
     The output tar file will be named 'base_name' +  ".tar", possibly plus
-    the appropriate compression extension (".gz", or ".bz2").
+    the appropriate compression extension (".gz", ".bz2" or ".xz").
 
     Returns the output filename.
     """
     tar_compression = {'gzip': 'gz', None: ''}
     compress_ext = {'gzip': '.gz'}
 
+    # XXX would be nice to stop having three lists of hard-coded values in this
+    # module and instead pass arguments to tarfile and let it work or complain
+
     if _BZ2_SUPPORTED:
         tar_compression['bzip2'] = 'bz2'
         compress_ext['bzip2'] = '.bz2'
 
+    if _XZ_SUPPORTED:
+        tar_compression['xz'] = 'xz'
+        compress_ext['xz'] = '.xz'
+
     # flags for compression program, each element of list will be an argument
     if compress is not None and compress not in compress_ext:
         raise ValueError("bad value for 'compress', or compression format not "
@@ -560,6 +574,10 @@ if _BZ2_SUPPORTED:
     _ARCHIVE_FORMATS['bztar'] = (_make_tarball, [('compress', 'bzip2')],
                                 "bzip2'ed tar-file")
 
+if _XZ_SUPPORTED:
+    _ARCHIVE_FORMATS['xztar'] = (_make_tarball, [('compress', 'xz')],
+                                 "xz'ed tar-file")
+
 def get_archive_formats():
     """Returns a list of supported formats for archiving and unarchiving.
 
@@ -770,6 +788,10 @@ if _BZ2_SUPPORTED:
     _UNPACK_FORMATS['bztar'] = (['.bz2'], _unpack_tarfile, [],
                                 "bzip2'ed tar-file")
 
+if _XZ_SUPPORTED:
+    _UNPACK_FORMATS['xztar'] = (['.xz'], _unpack_tarfile, [],
+                                "xz'ed tar-file")
+
 def _find_unpack_format(filename):
     for name, info in _UNPACK_FORMATS.items():
         for extension in info[0]:
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_shutil.py b/Lib/test/test_shutil.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_shutil.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_shutil.py
@@ -30,6 +30,12 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     BZ2_SUPPORTED = False
 
+try:
+    import lzma
+    XZ_SUPPORTED = True
+except ImportError:
+    XZ_SUPPORTED = False
+
 TESTFN2 = TESTFN + "2"
 
 try:
@@ -876,6 +882,8 @@ class TestShutil(unittest.TestCase):
         formats = ['tar', 'gztar', 'zip']
         if BZ2_SUPPORTED:
             formats.append('bztar')
+        if XZ_SUPPORTED:
+            formats.append('xztar')
 
         for format in formats:
             tmpdir = self.mkdtemp()