diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 9f597f64..e3ce7be9 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ ubuntu_xenial_pip:
   only:
     - master@fdroid/fdroidserver
   script:
-    - apt-get install git default-jdk-headless python3-pip python3-venv rsync zipalign
+    - apt-get install git default-jdk-headless python3-pip python3-venv rsync zipalign libarchive13
     - rm -rf env
     - pyvenv env
     - . env/bin/activate
diff --git a/fdroidserver/vmtools.py b/fdroidserver/vmtools.py
index ca65a2e5..64d630e3 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/vmtools.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/vmtools.py
@@ -430,13 +430,19 @@ class LibvirtBuildVm(FDroidBuildVm):
                   end""".format_map({'memory': str(int(domainInfo[1] / 1024)), 'cpus': str(domainInfo[3])}))
             with open('Vagrantfile', 'w') as fp:
                 fp.write(vagrantfile)
-            with tarfile.open(output, 'w:gz') as tar:
-                logging.debug('adding metadata.json to box %s ...', output)
-                tar.add('metadata.json')
-                logging.debug('adding Vagrantfile to box %s ...', output)
-                tar.add('Vagrantfile')
-                logging.debug('adding box.img to box %s ...', output)
-                tar.add('box.img')
+            try:
+                import libarchive
+                with libarchive.file_writer(output, 'gnutar', 'gzip') as tar:
+                    logging.debug('adding files to box %s ...', output)
+                    tar.add_files('metadata.json', 'Vagrantfile', 'box.img')
+            except (ModuleNotFoundError, AttributeError):
+                with tarfile.open(output, 'w:gz') as tar:
+                    logging.debug('adding metadata.json to box %s ...', output)
+                    tar.add('metadata.json')
+                    logging.debug('adding Vagrantfile to box %s ...', output)
+                    tar.add('Vagrantfile')
+                    logging.debug('adding box.img to box %s ...', output)
+                    tar.add('box.img')
 
             if not keep_box_file:
                 logging.debug('box packaging complete, removing temporary files.')