diff --git a/test/tar.bats b/test/tar.bats
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5a60d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tar.bats
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+load common
+
+begin_tar() {
+    apt-get -qq install debootstrap ncompress zstd
+    if [ ! -d /var/cache/bntest ]; then
+        debootstrap --variant=minbase testing /var/cache/bntest
+    fi
+}
+
+setup_tar() {
+    cat << EOF > "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backup.d/test.tar"
+when = manual
+backupname = bntest
+backupdir = /var/backups/tartest
+compress = none
+includes = /var/cache/bntest
+excludes = /var/cache/bntest/var
+EOF
+
+    chmod 0640 "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backup.d/test.tar"
+}
+
+teardown_tar() {
+    cleanup_backups local
+}
+
+@test "no compression" {
+    run backupninja -f "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backupninja.conf" --now --run "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backup.d/test.tar"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    grep -q "Info: FINISHED: 1 actions run. 0 fatal. 0 error. 0 warning." "${BATS_TMPDIR}/log/backupninja.log"
+    archive=$(find /var/backups/tartest -maxdepth 1 -name bntest-\*.tar)
+    echo $archive
+    [ -s "$archive" ]
+    tar xOf "$archive" &> /dev/null
+}
+
+@test "compress compression" {
+    setconfig backup.d/test.tar compress compress
+    run backupninja -f "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backupninja.conf" --now --run "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backup.d/test.tar"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    grep -q "Info: FINISHED: 1 actions run. 0 fatal. 0 error. 0 warning." "${BATS_TMPDIR}/log/backupninja.log"
+    archive=$(find /var/backups/tartest -maxdepth 1 -name bntest-\*.tar.compress)
+    [ -s "$archive" ]
+    tar xZOf "$archive" &> /dev/null
+}
+
+@test "gzip compression" {
+    setconfig backup.d/test.tar compress gzip
+    run backupninja -f "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backupninja.conf" --now --run "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backup.d/test.tar"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    grep -q "Info: FINISHED: 1 actions run. 0 fatal. 0 error. 0 warning." "${BATS_TMPDIR}/log/backupninja.log"
+    archive=$(find /var/backups/tartest -maxdepth 1 -name bntest-\*.tgz)
+    [ -s "$archive" ]
+    tar xzOf "$archive" &> /dev/null
+}
+
+@test "bzip2 compression" {
+    setconfig backup.d/test.tar compress bzip
+    run backupninja -f "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backupninja.conf" --now --run "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backup.d/test.tar"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    grep -q "Info: FINISHED: 1 actions run. 0 fatal. 0 error. 0 warning." "${BATS_TMPDIR}/log/backupninja.log"
+    archive=$(find /var/backups/tartest -maxdepth 1 -name bntest-\*.tar.bz2)
+    [ -s "$archive" ]
+    tar xjOf "$archive" &> /dev/null
+}
+
+@test "xz compression" {
+    setconfig backup.d/test.tar compress xz
+    run backupninja -f "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backupninja.conf" --now --run "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backup.d/test.tar"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    grep -q "Info: FINISHED: 1 actions run. 0 fatal. 0 error. 0 warning." "${BATS_TMPDIR}/log/backupninja.log"
+    archive=$(find /var/backups/tartest -maxdepth 1 -name bntest-\*.tar.xz)
+    [ -s "$archive" ]
+    tar xJOf "$archive" &> /dev/null
+}
+
+@test "zstd compression" {
+    setconfig backup.d/test.tar compress zstd
+    run backupninja -f "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backupninja.conf" --now --run "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backup.d/test.tar"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    grep -q "Info: FINISHED: 1 actions run. 0 fatal. 0 error. 0 warning." "${BATS_TMPDIR}/log/backupninja.log"
+    archive=$(find /var/backups/tartest -maxdepth 1 -name bntest-\*.tar.zst)
+    [ -s "$archive" ]
+    tar --zstd -xOf "$archive" &> /dev/null
+}
+
+@test "unknown compression, defaults to gzip" {
+    setconfig backup.d/test.tar compress foo
+    run backupninja -f "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backupninja.conf" --now --run "${BATS_TMPDIR}/backup.d/test.tar"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    grep -q "Info: FINISHED: 1 actions run. 0 fatal. 0 error. 1 warning." "${BATS_TMPDIR}/log/backupninja.log"
+    archive=$(find /var/backups/tartest -maxdepth 1 -name bntest-\*.tgz)
+    [ -s "$archive" ]
+    tar xzOf "$archive" &> /dev/null
+}