diff --git a/packages/kbn-es/package.json b/packages/kbn-es/package.json
index 64f67d37e4119..1edb90fbb6aae 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-es/package.json
+++ b/packages/kbn-es/package.json
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
     "node-fetch": "^2.0.0",
     "simple-git": "^1.91.0",
     "tar-fs": "^1.16.0",
+    "yauzl": "^2.10.0",
     "zlib": "^1.0.5"
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/kbn-es/src/install/archive.js b/packages/kbn-es/src/install/archive.js
index 048bb467e37ec..2851a3e8451f8 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-es/src/install/archive.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-es/src/install/archive.js
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
 const chalk = require('chalk');
 const execa = require('execa');
-const { log: defaultLog, extractTarball } = require('../utils');
+const { log: defaultLog, decompress } = require('../utils');
 const { BASE_PATH, ES_CONFIG, ES_KEYSTORE_BIN } = require('../paths');
 
 /**
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ exports.installArchive = async function installArchive(archive, options = {}) {
   }
 
   log.info('extracting %s', chalk.bold(archive));
-  await extractTarball(archive, installPath);
+  await decompress(archive, installPath);
   log.info('extracted to %s', chalk.bold(installPath));
 
   if (license !== 'oss') {
diff --git a/packages/kbn-es/src/install/snapshot.js b/packages/kbn-es/src/install/snapshot.js
index d568f6a207a71..dac535acb5aa7 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-es/src/install/snapshot.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-es/src/install/snapshot.js
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 const fetch = require('node-fetch');
 const fs = require('fs');
+const os = require('os');
 const mkdirp = require('mkdirp');
 const chalk = require('chalk');
 const path = require('path');
@@ -116,9 +117,10 @@ function downloadFile(url, dest, log) {
 }
 
 function getFilename(license, version) {
+  const extension = os.platform().startsWith('win') ? 'zip' : 'tar.gz';
   const basename = `elasticsearch${
     license === 'oss' ? '-oss-' : '-'
   }${version}`;
 
-  return `${basename}-SNAPSHOT.tar.gz`;
+  return `${basename}-SNAPSHOT.${extension}`;
 }
diff --git a/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/__fixtures__/snapshot.tar.gz b/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/__fixtures__/snapshot.tar.gz
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..0218324a23da6
Binary files /dev/null and b/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/__fixtures__/snapshot.tar.gz differ
diff --git a/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/__fixtures__/snapshot.zip b/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/__fixtures__/snapshot.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..ace84883270dc
Binary files /dev/null and b/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/__fixtures__/snapshot.zip differ
diff --git a/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/decompress.js b/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/decompress.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..223eb56d47000
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/decompress.js
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+
+const yauzl = require('yauzl');
+const mkdirp = require('mkdirp');
+const zlib = require('zlib');
+const tarFs = require('tar-fs');
+
+function decompressTarball(archive, dirPath) {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    fs
+      .createReadStream(archive)
+      .on('error', reject)
+      .pipe(zlib.createGunzip())
+      .on('error', reject)
+      .pipe(tarFs.extract(dirPath, { strip: true }))
+      .on('error', reject)
+      .on('finish', resolve);
+  });
+}
+
+function decompressZip(input, output) {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    yauzl.open(input, { lazyEntries: true }, (err, zipfile) => {
+      if (err) {
+        reject(err);
+      }
+
+      zipfile.readEntry();
+
+      zipfile.on('close', () => {
+        resolve();
+      });
+
+      zipfile.on('error', err => {
+        reject(err);
+      });
+
+      zipfile.on('entry', entry => {
+        const zipPath = entry.fileName
+          .split(/\/|\\/)
+          .slice(1)
+          .join(path.sep);
+        const fileName = path.resolve(output, zipPath);
+
+        if (/\/$/.test(entry.fileName)) {
+          zipfile.readEntry();
+        } else {
+          // file entry
+          zipfile.openReadStream(entry, (err, readStream) => {
+            if (err) {
+              reject(err);
+            }
+
+            readStream.on('end', () => {
+              zipfile.readEntry();
+            });
+
+            mkdirp(path.dirname(fileName), () => {
+              readStream.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(fileName));
+            });
+          });
+        }
+      });
+    });
+  });
+}
+
+exports.decompress = async function(input, output) {
+  const ext = path.extname(input);
+
+  switch (path.extname(input)) {
+    case '.zip':
+      await decompressZip(input, output);
+      break;
+    case '.tar':
+    case '.gz':
+      await decompressTarball(input, output);
+      break;
+    default:
+      throw new Error(`unknown extension "${ext}"`);
+  }
+};
diff --git a/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/tarball.js b/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/decompress.test.js
similarity index 52%
rename from packages/kbn-es/src/utils/tarball.js
rename to packages/kbn-es/src/utils/decompress.test.js
index f4d396343c817..fe5d802ccb668 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/tarball.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/decompress.test.js
@@ -17,32 +17,35 @@
  * under the License.
  */
 
+const { decompress } = require('./decompress');
+const mockFs = require('mock-fs');
 const fs = require('fs');
-const zlib = require('zlib');
 const path = require('path');
-const tarFs = require('tar-fs');
 
-/**
- * @param {String} archive
- * @param {String} dirPath
- */
-exports.extractTarball = function extractTarball(archive, dirPath) {
-  const stripOne = header => {
-    header.name = header.name
-      .split(/\/|\\/)
-      .slice(1)
-      .join(path.sep);
-    return header;
-  };
-
-  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-    fs
-      .createReadStream(archive)
-      .on('error', reject)
-      .pipe(zlib.createGunzip())
-      .on('error', reject)
-      .pipe(tarFs.extract(dirPath, { map: stripOne }))
-      .on('error', reject)
-      .on('finish', resolve);
+beforeEach(() => {
+  mockFs({
+    '/data': {
+      'snapshot.zip': fs.readFileSync(
+        path.resolve(__dirname, '__fixtures__/snapshot.zip')
+      ),
+      'snapshot.tar.gz': fs.readFileSync(
+        path.resolve(__dirname, '__fixtures__/snapshot.tar.gz')
+      ),
+    },
+    '/.es': {},
   });
-};
+});
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  mockFs.restore();
+});
+
+test('zip strips root directory', async () => {
+  await decompress('/data/snapshot.zip', '/.es/foo');
+  expect(fs.readdirSync('/.es/foo/bin')).toContain('elasticsearch.bat');
+});
+
+test('tar strips root directory', async () => {
+  await decompress('/data/snapshot.tar.gz', '/.es/foo');
+  expect(fs.readdirSync('/.es/foo/bin')).toContain('elasticsearch');
+});
diff --git a/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/index.js b/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/index.js
index cc06bbbbfe024..74c50387d3e08 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/index.js
+++ b/packages/kbn-es/src/utils/index.js
@@ -20,6 +20,6 @@
 exports.cache = require('./cache');
 exports.log = require('./log').log;
 exports.parseEsLog = require('./parse_es_log').parseEsLog;
-exports.extractTarball = require('./tarball').extractTarball;
 exports.findMostRecentlyChanged = require('./find_most_recently_changed').findMostRecentlyChanged;
 exports.extractConfigFiles = require('./extract_config_files').extractConfigFiles;
+exports.decompress = require('./decompress').decompress;
diff --git a/packages/kbn-es/yarn.lock b/packages/kbn-es/yarn.lock
index ab15faef4bcdd..2543d8798364b 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-es/yarn.lock
+++ b/packages/kbn-es/yarn.lock
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ bl@^1.0.0:
   dependencies:
     readable-stream "^2.0.5"
 
+buffer-crc32@~0.2.3:
+  version "0.2.13"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/buffer-crc32/-/buffer-crc32-0.2.13.tgz#0d333e3f00eac50aa1454abd30ef8c2a5d9a7242"
+
 chalk@^1.0.0:
   version "1.1.3"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/chalk/-/chalk-1.1.3.tgz#a8115c55e4a702fe4d150abd3872822a7e09fc98"
@@ -121,6 +125,12 @@ execa@^0.10.0:
     signal-exit "^3.0.0"
     strip-eof "^1.0.0"
 
+fd-slicer@~1.1.0:
+  version "1.1.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/fd-slicer/-/fd-slicer-1.1.0.tgz#25c7c89cb1f9077f8891bbe61d8f390eae256f1e"
+  dependencies:
+    pend "~1.2.0"
+
 get-stream@^3.0.0:
   version "3.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/get-stream/-/get-stream-3.0.0.tgz#8e943d1358dc37555054ecbe2edb05aa174ede14"
@@ -223,6 +233,10 @@ path-key@^2.0.0, path-key@^2.0.1:
   version "2.0.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/path-key/-/path-key-2.0.1.tgz#411cadb574c5a140d3a4b1910d40d80cc9f40b40"
 
+pend@~1.2.0:
+  version "1.2.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/pend/-/pend-1.2.0.tgz#7a57eb550a6783f9115331fcf4663d5c8e007a50"
+
 process-nextick-args@~2.0.0:
   version "2.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/process-nextick-args/-/process-nextick-args-2.0.0.tgz#a37d732f4271b4ab1ad070d35508e8290788ffaa"
@@ -350,6 +364,13 @@ xtend@^4.0.0:
   version "4.0.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/xtend/-/xtend-4.0.1.tgz#a5c6d532be656e23db820efb943a1f04998d63af"
 
+yauzl@^2.10.0:
+  version "2.10.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/yauzl/-/yauzl-2.10.0.tgz#c7eb17c93e112cb1086fa6d8e51fb0667b79a5f9"
+  dependencies:
+    buffer-crc32 "~0.2.3"
+    fd-slicer "~1.1.0"
+
 zlib@^1.0.5:
   version "1.0.5"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/zlib/-/zlib-1.0.5.tgz#6e7c972fc371c645a6afb03ab14769def114fcc0"