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);

 	}

 }