diff --git a/patoolib/__init__.py b/patoolib/__init__.py
index d0ad39e..01e2507 100644
--- a/patoolib/__init__.py
+++ b/patoolib/__init__.py
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ ArchivePrograms = {
         'list': ('py_echo',),
     },
     'tar': {
-        None: ('tar', 'star', 'py_tarfile'),
+        None: ('tar', 'star', 'bsdtar', 'py_tarfile'),
     },
     'zip': {
         None: ('7z', '7za', 'py_zipfile'),
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ def program_supports_compression (program, compression):
     @return: True iff the program supports the given compression format
       natively, else False.
     """
-    if program in ('tar', 'star', 'py_tarfile'):
+    if program in ('tar', 'star', 'bsdtar', 'py_tarfile'):
         return compression in ('gzip', 'bzip2')
     return False
 
diff --git a/patoolib/programs/bsdtar.py b/patoolib/programs/bsdtar.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9981ca4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patoolib/programs/bsdtar.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# Copyright (C) 2012 Bastian Kleineidam
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+"""Archive commands for the BSD tar program."""
+
+from .tar import extract_tar, list_tar, test_tar, create_tar
diff --git a/patoolib/programs/tar.py b/patoolib/programs/tar.py
index 997140e..3980059 100644
--- a/patoolib/programs/tar.py
+++ b/patoolib/programs/tar.py
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 """Archive commands for the GNU tar program."""
+import os
+
 
 def extract_tar (archive, compression, cmd, **kwargs):
     """Extract a TAR archive."""
@@ -40,12 +42,15 @@ def create_tar (archive, compression, cmd, *args, **kwargs):
     return cmdlist
 
 def add_tar_opts (cmdlist, compression, verbose):
+    progname = os.path.basename(cmdlist[0])
     if compression == 'gzip':
         cmdlist.append('-z')
     elif compression == 'compress':
         cmdlist.append('-Z')
     elif compression == 'bzip2':
         cmdlist.append('-j')
+    elif compression in ('lzma', 'xz') and progname == 'bsdtar':
+        cmdlist.append('--%s' % compression)
     elif compression in ('lzma', 'xz', 'lzip'):
         # use the compression name as program name since
         # tar is picky which programs it can use
diff --git a/tests/test_archives.py b/tests/test_archives.py
index 90fe6d6..c505b57 100644
--- a/tests/test_archives.py
+++ b/tests/test_archives.py
@@ -99,6 +99,48 @@ class TestArchives (ArchiveTest):
         self.program = 'star'
         self.archive_commands('t.tar.xz')
 
+    @needs_program('bsdtar')
+    def test_bsdtar (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar')
+
+    @needs_codec('bsdtar', 'gzip')
+    def test_bsdtar_gz (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar.gz')
+        self.archive_commands('t.tgz')
+
+    @needs_program('bsdtar')
+    @needs_program('compress')
+    def test_bsdtar_z (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar.Z')
+        self.archive_commands('t.taz')
+
+    @needs_codec('bsdtar', 'bzip2')
+    def test_bsdtar_bz2 (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar.bz2')
+        self.archive_commands('t.tbz2')
+
+    @needs_codec('bsdtar', 'lzma')
+    def test_bsdtar_lzma (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar.lzma')
+
+    # even though clzip would support extracting .lz files, the
+    # file(1) --uncompress command does not use it for achive detection
+    @needs_program('bsdtar')
+    @needs_program('lzip')
+    def test_bsdtar_lzip (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar.lz')
+
+    @needs_codec('bsdtar', 'xz')
+    def test_bsdtar_xz (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar.xz')
+
     def test_py_tarfile (self):
         self.program = 'py_tarfile'
         self.archive_commands('t.tar')
diff --git a/tests/test_foo_archives.py b/tests/test_foo_archives.py
index 4a06f4b..2945553 100644
--- a/tests/test_foo_archives.py
+++ b/tests/test_foo_archives.py
@@ -66,6 +66,55 @@ class TestArchives (ArchiveTest):
         self.program = 'tar'
         self.archive_commands('t.tar.xz.foo', format="tar", compression="xz")
 
+    @needs_program('file')
+    @needs_program('bsdtar')
+    def test_bsdtar_file (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar.foo', format="tar")
+
+    @needs_program('file')
+    @needs_codec('bsdtar', 'gzip')
+    def test_bsdtar_gz_file (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar.gz.foo', format="tar", compression="gzip")
+        self.archive_commands('t.tgz.foo', format="tar", compression="gzip")
+
+    @needs_program('file')
+    @needs_codec('bsdtar', 'compress')
+    def test_bsdtar_z (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar.Z.foo', format="tar", compression="compress")
+        self.archive_commands('t.taz.foo', format="tar", compression="compress")
+
+    @needs_program('file')
+    @needs_codec('bsdtar', 'bzip2')
+    def test_bsdtar_bz2 (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar.bz2.foo', format="tar", compression="bzip2")
+        self.archive_commands('t.tbz2.foo', format="tar", compression="bzip2")
+
+    # file(1) does not recognize .lzma files (at least not with --uncompress)
+    #@needs_program('file')
+    #@needs_codec('bsdtar', 'lzma')
+    #def test_bsdtar_lzma (self):
+    #    self.program = 'bsdtar'
+    #    self.archive_commands('t.tar.lzma.foo', format="tar", compression="lzma")
+
+    # even though clzip would support extracting .lz files, the
+    # file(1) --uncompress command does not use it for achive detection
+    @needs_program('lzip')
+    @needs_program('file')
+    @needs_codec('bsdtar', 'lzip')
+    def test_bsdtar_lzip (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar.lz.foo', format="tar", compression="lzip")
+
+    @needs_program('file')
+    @needs_codec('bsdtar', 'xz')
+    def test_bsdtar_xz (self):
+        self.program = 'bsdtar'
+        self.archive_commands('t.tar.xz.foo', format="tar", compression="xz")
+
     @needs_program('file')
     @needs_program('star')
     def test_star (self):