diff --git a/archive_build.sh b/archive_build.sh
index e04f915f1a..9e1b0bec82 100755
--- a/archive_build.sh
+++ b/archive_build.sh
@@ -161,7 +161,12 @@ if [ $FLAGS_test_mod -eq $FLAGS_TRUE ]; then
 
   pushd "${FLAGS_chroot}/build/${FLAGS_board}/usr/local"
   echo "Archiving autotest build artifacts"
-  tar cjf "${FLAGS_from}/autotest.tar.bz2" --checkpoint=1000 autotest
+  if which pbzip2 >/dev/null 2>/dev/null; then
+    TAR_BZIP2="tar --use-compress-program=pbzip2"
+  else
+    TAR_BZIP2="tar --bzip2"
+  fi
+  ${TAR_BZIP2} -cf "${FLAGS_from}/autotest.tar.bz2" --checkpoint=10000 autotest
   popd
 fi
 
diff --git a/archive_hwqual b/archive_hwqual
index 27d1b38046..6fa7498342 100755
--- a/archive_hwqual
+++ b/archive_hwqual
@@ -72,8 +72,14 @@ function main() {
   mkdir -p image
   mkdir -p "tarball/${FLAGS_output_tag}"
 
+  if which pbzip2 >/dev/null 2>/dev/null; then
+    TAR_BZIP2="tar --use-compress-program=pbzip2"
+  else
+    TAR_BZIP2="tar --bzip2"
+  fi
+
   echo "Extracting autotest from build artifacts..."
-  tar --bzip2 -xf autotest.tar.bz2
+  ${TAR_BZIP2} -xf autotest.tar.bz2
 
   cd "${TMP}"
 
@@ -104,7 +110,7 @@ function main() {
   echo "Creating ${FLAGS_to}/${FLAGS_output_tag}.tar.bz2..."
   mkdir -p "${FLAGS_to}"
   cd tarball
-  tar --bzip2 -cf "${FLAGS_to}/${FLAGS_output_tag}.tar.bz2" .
+  ${TAR_BZIP2} -cf "${FLAGS_to}/${FLAGS_output_tag}.tar.bz2" .
 
   trap - EXIT
   cleanup