diff --git a/alien/Alien/Package/Deb.pm b/alien/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
index bf09058..0141264 100644
--- a/alien/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
+++ b/alien/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ sub scan {
 	}
 	else {
 		@filelist=map { chomp; s:\./::; "/$_" }
-			  $this->runpipe(0, "ar -p '$file' data.tar.gz | gzip -dc | tar tf -");
+			  $this->runpipe(0, "ar -p '$file' data.tar.gz | gzip -dc | tar tf - || ar -p '$file' data.tar.xz | xzcat  | tar tf -");
 	}
 	$this->filelist(\@filelist);
 
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ sub unpack {
 			or die "Unpacking of '$file' failed: $!";
 	}
 	else {
-		$this->do("ar -p $file data.tar.gz | gzip -dc | (cd ".$this->unpacked_tree."; tar xpf -)")
+		$this->do("ar -p $file data.tar.gz | gzip -dc | (cd ".$this->unpacked_tree."; tar xpf -) || ar -p '$file' data.tar.xz | xzcat | (cd ".$this->unpacked_tree."; tar xpf -)")
 			or die "Unpacking of '$file' failed: $!";
 	}
 
diff --git a/alien/Alien/Package/Deb.pm b/alien/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
index bf09058..a6efacf 100644
--- a/alien/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
+++ b/alien/Alien/Package/Deb.pm
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ sub getcontrolfile {
 				" cat '$file'; cd /; rm -rf /tmp/tar_out.$$)";
 		}
 		my $getcontrol = "ar -p '$file' control.tar.gz | gzip -dc | ".tar_out($controlfile)." 2>/dev/null";
+		$getcontrol .= " || ar -p '$file' control.tar.xz | xzcat | ".tar_out($controlfile)." 2>/dev/null";
 		return $this->runpipe(1, $getcontrol);
 	}
 }