diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 38b81a1..c03467e 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ walkdir = "2"
 xz2 = "0.1.4"
 num_cpus = "1"
 remove_dir_all = "0.5"
+zstd = { version = "0.10.0", features = ["zstdmt"] }
 
 [dependencies.clap]
 features = ["derive"]
diff --git a/src/compression.rs b/src/compression.rs
index 7e20a94..cd6a3a2 100644
--- a/src/compression.rs
+++ b/src/compression.rs
@@ -3,11 +3,13 @@ use flate2::{read::GzDecoder, write::GzEncoder};
 use rayon::prelude::*;
 use std::{convert::TryFrom, fmt, io::Read, io::Write, path::Path, str::FromStr};
 use xz2::{read::XzDecoder, write::XzEncoder};
+use zstd::stream::{read::Decoder as ZstdDecoder, write::Encoder as ZstdEncoder};
 
 #[derive(Debug, Copy, Clone)]
 pub enum CompressionFormat {
     Gz,
     Xz,
+    Zstd,
 }
 
 impl CompressionFormat {
@@ -15,6 +17,7 @@ impl CompressionFormat {
         match path.as_ref().extension().and_then(|e| e.to_str()) {
             Some("gz") => Some(CompressionFormat::Gz),
             Some("xz") => Some(CompressionFormat::Xz),
+            Some("zst") => Some(CompressionFormat::Zstd),
             _ => None,
         }
     }
@@ -23,6 +26,7 @@ impl CompressionFormat {
         match self {
             CompressionFormat::Gz => "gz",
             CompressionFormat::Xz => "xz",
+            CompressionFormat::Zstd => "zst",
         }
     }
 
@@ -48,6 +52,17 @@ impl CompressionFormat {
                     .encoder()?;
                 Box::new(XzEncoder::new_stream(file, stream))
             }
+            CompressionFormat::Zstd => {
+                // zstd's default compression level is 3, which is on par with gzip but much faster
+                let mut enc = ZstdEncoder::new(file, 3).context("failed to initialize zstd encoder")?;
+                // Long-distance matching provides a substantial benefit for our tarballs, and
+                // actually makes compressiong *faster*.
+                enc.long_distance_matching(true).context("zst long_distance_matching")?;
+                // Enable multithreaded mode. zstd seems to be faster when using the number of
+                // physical CPU cores rather than logical/SMT threads.
+                enc.multithread(num_cpus::get_physical() as u32).context("zst multithreaded")?;
+                Box::new(enc)
+            }
         })
     }
 
@@ -56,6 +71,7 @@ impl CompressionFormat {
         Ok(match self {
             CompressionFormat::Gz => Box::new(GzDecoder::new(file)),
             CompressionFormat::Xz => Box::new(XzDecoder::new(file)),
+            CompressionFormat::Zstd => Box::new(ZstdDecoder::new(file)?),
         })
     }
 }
@@ -73,6 +89,7 @@ impl TryFrom<&'_ str> for CompressionFormats {
             match format.trim() {
                 "gz" => parsed.push(CompressionFormat::Gz),
                 "xz" => parsed.push(CompressionFormat::Xz),
+                "zst" => parsed.push(CompressionFormat::Zstd),
                 other => anyhow::bail!("unknown compression format: {}", other),
             }
         }
@@ -97,6 +114,7 @@ impl fmt::Display for CompressionFormats {
             fmt::Display::fmt(match format {
                 CompressionFormat::Xz => "xz",
                 CompressionFormat::Gz => "gz",
+                CompressionFormat::Zstd => "zst",
             }, f)?;
         }
         Ok(())
@@ -113,6 +131,10 @@ impl CompressionFormats {
     pub(crate) fn iter(&self) -> impl Iterator<Item = CompressionFormat> + '_ {
         self.0.iter().map(|i| *i)
     }
+
+    pub(crate) fn len(&self) -> usize {
+        self.0.len()
+    }
 }
 
 pub(crate) trait Encoder: Send + Write {
@@ -133,6 +155,13 @@ impl<W: Send + Write> Encoder for XzEncoder<W> {
     }
 }
 
+impl<W: Send + Write> Encoder for ZstdEncoder<'_, W> {
+    fn finish(mut self: Box<Self>) -> Result<(), Error> {
+        ZstdEncoder::do_finish(self.as_mut()).context("failed to finish .zst file")?;
+        Ok(())
+    }
+}
+
 pub(crate) struct CombinedEncoder {
     encoders: Vec<Box<dyn Encoder>>,
 }
diff --git a/src/tarballer.rs b/src/tarballer.rs
index 76f5af3..b287d6a 100644
--- a/src/tarballer.rs
+++ b/src/tarballer.rs
@@ -49,13 +49,13 @@ impl Tarballer {
             .context("failed to collect file paths")?;
         files.sort_by(|a, b| a.bytes().rev().cmp(b.bytes().rev()));
 
-        // Write the tar into both encoded files. We write all directories
+        // Write the tar the both encoded files. We write all directories
         // first, so files may be directly created. (See rust-lang/rustup.rs#1092.)
         let buf = BufWriter::with_capacity(1024 * 1024, encoder);
         let mut builder = Builder::new(buf);
 
         let pool = rayon::ThreadPoolBuilder::new()
-            .num_threads(2)
+            .num_threads(self.compression_formats.len())
             .build()
             .unwrap();
         pool.install(move || {
diff --git a/test.sh b/test.sh
index bf6de4c..949d296 100755
--- a/test.sh
+++ b/test.sh
@@ -1218,6 +1218,21 @@ generate_compression_formats_multiple() {
 }
 runtest generate_compression_formats_multiple
 
+generate_compression_formats_multiple_zst() {
+    try sh "$S/gen-installer.sh" \
+        --image-dir="$TEST_DIR/image1" \
+        --work-dir="$WORK_DIR" \
+        --output-dir="$OUT_DIR" \
+        --package-name="rustc" \
+        --component-name="rustc" \
+        --compression-formats="gz,zst"
+
+    try test -e "${OUT_DIR}/rustc.tar.gz"
+    try test ! -e "${OUT_DIR}/rustc.tar.xz"
+    try test -e "${OUT_DIR}/rustc.tar.zst"
+}
+runtest generate_compression_formats_multiple_zst
+
 generate_compression_formats_error() {
     expect_fail sh "$S/gen-installer.sh" \
         --image-dir="$TEST_DIR/image1" \