diff --git a/kiss b/kiss
index 68cdcee..0c6d9f6 100755
--- a/kiss
+++ b/kiss
@@ -503,11 +503,11 @@ pkg_tar() {
 
     # Create a tar-ball from the contents of the built package.
     "$tar" cf - -C "$pkg_dir/$1" . | 
-        case ${KISS_COMPRESS:=xz} in
+        case ${KISS_COMPRESS:=gz} in
             xz) xz -zT 0 ;;
             gz) gzip -6  ;;
         esac \
-    > "$bin_dir/$1#$version-$release.tar.${KISS_COMPRESS:=xz}"
+    > "$bin_dir/$1#$version-$release.tar.${KISS_COMPRESS:=gz}"
 
     log "$1" "Successfully created tar-ball"
 }
diff --git a/kiss.1 b/kiss.1
index e94aacc..84de341 100644
--- a/kiss.1
+++ b/kiss.1
@@ -100,8 +100,8 @@ export KISS_KEEPLOG=0
 
 # Compression method to use for package tarballs.
 #
-# Valid options: 'xz' (default), 'gz'
-export KISS_COMPRESS=xz
+# Valid options: 'gz' (default), 'xz' 
+export KISS_COMPRESS=gz
 
 # Keep build, package and extraction cache directories for debugging
 # purposes.