diff --git a/release.sh b/release.sh
index 53bbd61447447c602b281c5872c3ced1522d7a0b..dccd720871675d1ef5552e73fd3233f731862b4c 100755
--- a/release.sh
+++ b/release.sh
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ hg archive "$RELDIR"  || exit 2
 
 rm -r "$RELDIR/autom4te.cache" || exit 2
 
-(cd $RELDIR/.. && tar czf $ARCHIVE `basename "$RELDIR"`) || exit 2
+(cd $RELDIR/.. && tar cjf $ARCHIVE `basename "$RELDIR"`) || exit 2
 
 ls -l $ARCHIVE
 openssl sha1 $ARCHIVE