diff --git a/archive/tar.ts b/archive/tar.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5ef3aa2a7596
--- /dev/null
+++ b/archive/tar.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,479 @@
+/**
+ * Ported and modified from: https://github.com/jshttp/mime-types and licensed as:
+ *
+ * (The MIT License)
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2011 T. Jameson Little
+ * Copyright (c) 2019 Jun Kato
+ * Copyright (c) 2019 the Deno authors
+ *
+ * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+ * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+ * in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+ * to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+ * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+ * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+ *
+ * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
+ * all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+ *
+ * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+ * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+ * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
+ * THE SOFTWARE.
+ */
+import { MultiReader } from "../io/readers.ts";
+import { BufReader } from "../io/bufio.ts";
+
+const recordSize = 512;
+const ustar = "ustar\u000000";
+
+/**
+ * Simple file reader
+ */
+export class FileReader implements Deno.Reader {
+  private file: Deno.File;
+  constructor(private filePath: string, private mode: Deno.OpenMode = "r") {}
+  public async read(p: Uint8Array): Promise<Deno.ReadResult> {
+    if (!this.file) {
+      this.file = await Deno.open(this.filePath, this.mode);
+    }
+    const res = await Deno.read(this.file.rid, p);
+    if (res.eof) {
+      await Deno.close(this.file.rid);
+      this.file = null;
+    }
+    return res;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Simple file writer (call FileWriter.dispose() after use)
+ */
+export class FileWriter implements Deno.Writer {
+  private file: Deno.File;
+  constructor(private filePath: string, private mode: Deno.OpenMode = "w") {}
+  public async write(p: Uint8Array): Promise<number> {
+    if (!this.file) {
+      this.file = await Deno.open(this.filePath, this.mode);
+    }
+    return Deno.write(this.file.rid, p);
+  }
+  public dispose(): void {
+    if (!this.file) return;
+    Deno.close(this.file.rid);
+    this.file = null;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Remove the trailing null codes
+ * @param buffer
+ */
+function trim(buffer: Uint8Array): Uint8Array {
+  const index = buffer.findIndex((v): boolean => v === 0);
+  if (index < 0) return buffer;
+  return buffer.subarray(0, index);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Initialize Uint8Array of the specified length filled with 0
+ * @param length
+ */
+function clean(length: number): Uint8Array {
+  const buffer = new Uint8Array(length);
+  buffer.fill(0, 0, length - 1);
+  return buffer;
+}
+
+function pad(num: number, bytes: number, base?: number): string {
+  var numString = num.toString(base || 8);
+  return "000000000000".substr(numString.length + 12 - bytes) + numString;
+}
+
+/*
+struct posix_header {           // byte offset
+	char name[100];               //   0
+	char mode[8];                 // 100
+	char uid[8];                  // 108
+	char gid[8];                  // 116
+	char size[12];                // 124
+	char mtime[12];               // 136
+	char chksum[8];               // 148
+	char typeflag;                // 156
+	char linkname[100];           // 157
+	char magic[6];                // 257
+	char version[2];              // 263
+	char uname[32];               // 265
+	char gname[32];               // 297
+	char devmajor[8];             // 329
+	char devminor[8];             // 337
+	char prefix[155];             // 345
+                                // 500
+};
+*/
+
+const ustarStructure: Array<{ field: string; length: number }> = [
+  {
+    field: "fileName",
+    length: 100
+  },
+  {
+    field: "fileMode",
+    length: 8
+  },
+  {
+    field: "uid",
+    length: 8
+  },
+  {
+    field: "gid",
+    length: 8
+  },
+  {
+    field: "fileSize",
+    length: 12
+  },
+  {
+    field: "mtime",
+    length: 12
+  },
+  {
+    field: "checksum",
+    length: 8
+  },
+  {
+    field: "type",
+    length: 1
+  },
+  {
+    field: "linkName",
+    length: 100
+  },
+  {
+    field: "ustar",
+    length: 8
+  },
+  {
+    field: "owner",
+    length: 32
+  },
+  {
+    field: "group",
+    length: 32
+  },
+  {
+    field: "majorNumber",
+    length: 8
+  },
+  {
+    field: "minorNumber",
+    length: 8
+  },
+  {
+    field: "fileNamePrefix",
+    length: 155
+  },
+  {
+    field: "padding",
+    length: 12
+  }
+];
+
+/**
+ * Create header for a file in a tar archive
+ */
+function formatHeader(data: TarData): Uint8Array {
+  const encoder = new TextEncoder(),
+    buffer = clean(512);
+  let offset = 0;
+  ustarStructure.forEach(function(value): void {
+    const entry = encoder.encode(data[value.field] || "");
+    buffer.set(entry, offset);
+    offset += value.length; // space it out with nulls
+  });
+  return buffer;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Parse file header in a tar archive
+ * @param length
+ */
+function parseHeader(buffer: Uint8Array): { [key: string]: Uint8Array } {
+  const data: { [key: string]: Uint8Array } = {};
+  let offset = 0;
+  ustarStructure.forEach(function(value): void {
+    const arr = buffer.subarray(offset, offset + value.length);
+    data[value.field] = arr;
+    offset += value.length;
+  });
+  return data;
+}
+
+export interface TarData {
+  fileName?: string;
+  fileNamePrefix?: string;
+  fileMode?: string;
+  uid?: string;
+  gid?: string;
+  fileSize?: string;
+  mtime?: string;
+  checksum?: string;
+  type?: string;
+  ustar?: string;
+  owner?: string;
+  group?: string;
+}
+
+export interface TarDataWithSource extends TarData {
+  /**
+   * file to read
+   */
+  filePath?: string;
+  /**
+   * buffer to read
+   */
+  reader?: Deno.Reader;
+}
+
+export interface TarInfo {
+  fileMode?: number;
+  mtime?: number;
+  uid?: number;
+  gid?: number;
+  owner?: string;
+  group?: string;
+}
+
+export interface TarOptions extends TarInfo {
+  /**
+   * append file
+   */
+  filePath?: string;
+
+  /**
+   * append any arbitrary content
+   */
+  reader?: Deno.Reader;
+
+  /**
+   * size of the content to be appended
+   */
+  contentSize?: number;
+}
+
+export interface UntarOptions extends TarInfo {
+  fileName: string;
+}
+
+/**
+ * A class to create a tar archive
+ */
+export class Tar {
+  data: TarDataWithSource[];
+  written: number;
+  out: Uint8Array;
+  private blockSize: number;
+
+  constructor(recordsPerBlock?: number) {
+    this.data = [];
+    this.written = 0;
+    this.blockSize = (recordsPerBlock || 20) * recordSize;
+    this.out = clean(this.blockSize);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Append a file to this tar archive
+   * @param fileName file name (e.g., test.txt; use slash for directory separators)
+   * @param opts options
+   */
+  async append(fileName: string, opts: TarOptions): Promise<void> {
+    if (typeof fileName !== "string")
+      throw new Error("file name not specified");
+
+    // separate file name into two parts if needed
+    let fileNamePrefix: string;
+    if (fileName.length > 100) {
+      let i = fileName.length;
+      while (i >= 0) {
+        i = fileName.lastIndexOf("/", i);
+        if (i <= 155) {
+          fileNamePrefix = fileName.substr(0, i);
+          fileName = fileName.substr(i + 1);
+          break;
+        }
+        i--;
+      }
+      if (i < 0 || fileName.length > 100 || fileNamePrefix.length > 155) {
+        throw new Error(
+          "ustar format does not allow a long file name (length of [file name prefix] + / + [file name] must be shorter than 256 bytes)"
+        );
+      }
+    }
+
+    opts = opts || {};
+
+    // set meta data
+    const info = opts.filePath && (await Deno.stat(opts.filePath));
+
+    let mode =
+        opts.fileMode || (info && info.mode) || parseInt("777", 8) & 0xfff,
+      mtime =
+        opts.mtime ||
+        (info && info.modified) ||
+        Math.floor(new Date().getTime() / 1000),
+      uid = opts.uid || 0,
+      gid = opts.gid || 0;
+    if (typeof opts.owner === "string" && opts.owner.length >= 32) {
+      throw new Error(
+        "ustar format does not allow owner name length >= 32 bytes"
+      );
+    }
+    if (typeof opts.group === "string" && opts.group.length >= 32) {
+      throw new Error(
+        "ustar format does not allow group name length >= 32 bytes"
+      );
+    }
+
+    const tarData: TarDataWithSource = {
+      fileName,
+      fileNamePrefix,
+      fileMode: pad(mode, 7),
+      uid: pad(uid, 7),
+      gid: pad(gid, 7),
+      fileSize: pad(info ? info.len : opts.contentSize, 11),
+      mtime: pad(mtime, 11),
+      checksum: "        ",
+      type: "0", // just a file
+      ustar,
+      owner: opts.owner || "",
+      group: opts.group || "",
+      filePath: opts.filePath,
+      reader: opts.reader
+    };
+
+    // calculate the checksum
+    let checksum = 0;
+    const encoder = new TextEncoder();
+    Object.keys(tarData)
+      .filter((key): boolean => ["filePath", "reader"].indexOf(key) < 0)
+      .forEach(function(key): void {
+        checksum += encoder
+          .encode(tarData[key])
+          .reduce((p, c): number => p + c, 0);
+      });
+
+    tarData.checksum = pad(checksum, 6) + "\u0000 ";
+    this.data.push(tarData);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Get a Reader instance for this tar data
+   */
+  getReader(): Deno.Reader {
+    const readers: Deno.Reader[] = [];
+    this.data.forEach(
+      (tarData): void => {
+        let { filePath, reader } = tarData,
+          headerArr = formatHeader(tarData);
+        readers.push(new Deno.Buffer(headerArr));
+        if (!reader) {
+          reader = new FileReader(filePath);
+        }
+        readers.push(reader);
+
+        // to the nearest multiple of recordSize
+        readers.push(
+          new Deno.Buffer(
+            clean(
+              recordSize -
+                (parseInt(tarData.fileSize, 8) % recordSize || recordSize)
+            )
+          )
+        );
+      }
+    );
+
+    // append 2 empty records
+    readers.push(new Deno.Buffer(clean(recordSize * 2)));
+    return new MultiReader(...readers);
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * A class to create a tar archive
+ */
+export class Untar {
+  reader: BufReader;
+  block: Uint8Array;
+
+  constructor(reader: Deno.Reader) {
+    this.reader = new BufReader(reader);
+    this.block = new Uint8Array(recordSize);
+  }
+
+  async extract(writer: Deno.Writer): Promise<UntarOptions> {
+    await this.reader.readFull(this.block);
+    const header = parseHeader(this.block);
+
+    // calculate the checksum
+    let checksum = 0;
+    const encoder = new TextEncoder(),
+      decoder = new TextDecoder("ascii");
+    Object.keys(header)
+      .filter((key): boolean => key !== "checksum")
+      .forEach(function(key): void {
+        checksum += header[key].reduce((p, c): number => p + c, 0);
+      });
+    checksum += encoder.encode("        ").reduce((p, c): number => p + c, 0);
+
+    if (parseInt(decoder.decode(header.checksum), 8) !== checksum) {
+      throw new Error("checksum error");
+    }
+
+    const magic = decoder.decode(header.ustar);
+    if (magic !== ustar) {
+      throw new Error(`unsupported archive format: ${magic}`);
+    }
+
+    // get meta data
+    const meta: UntarOptions = {
+      fileName: decoder.decode(trim(header.fileName))
+    };
+    const fileNamePrefix = trim(header.fileNamePrefix);
+    if (fileNamePrefix.byteLength > 0) {
+      meta.fileName = decoder.decode(fileNamePrefix) + "/" + meta.fileName;
+    }
+    ["fileMode", "mtime", "uid", "gid"].forEach(
+      (key): void => {
+        const arr = trim(header[key]);
+        if (arr.byteLength > 0) {
+          meta[key] = parseInt(decoder.decode(arr), 8);
+        }
+      }
+    );
+    ["owner", "group"].forEach(
+      (key): void => {
+        const arr = trim(header[key]);
+        if (arr.byteLength > 0) {
+          meta[key] = decoder.decode(arr);
+        }
+      }
+    );
+
+    // read the file content
+    const len = parseInt(decoder.decode(header.fileSize), 8);
+    let rest = len;
+    while (rest > 0) {
+      await this.reader.readFull(this.block);
+      const arr = rest < recordSize ? this.block.subarray(0, rest) : this.block;
+      await Deno.copy(writer, new Deno.Buffer(arr));
+      rest -= recordSize;
+    }
+
+    return meta;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/archive/tar_test.ts b/archive/tar_test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..951879277886
--- /dev/null
+++ b/archive/tar_test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+/**
+ * Tar test
+ *
+ * **test summary**
+ * - create a tar archive in memory containing output.txt and dir/tar.ts.
+ * - read and deflate a tar archive containing output.txt
+ *
+ * **to run this test**
+ * deno run --allow-read archive/tar_test.ts
+ */
+import { test, runIfMain } from "../testing/mod.ts";
+import { assertEquals } from "../testing/asserts.ts";
+
+import { Tar, Untar } from "./tar.ts";
+import { resolve } from "../fs/path/mod.ts";
+
+const filePath = resolve("archive", "testdata", "example.txt");
+
+test(async function createTarArchive(): Promise<void> {
+  // initialize
+  const tar = new Tar();
+
+  // put data on memory
+  const content = new TextEncoder().encode("hello tar world!");
+  await tar.append("output.txt", {
+    reader: new Deno.Buffer(content),
+    contentSize: content.byteLength
+  });
+
+  // put a file
+  await tar.append("dir/tar.ts", { filePath });
+
+  // write tar data to a buffer
+  const writer = new Deno.Buffer(),
+    wrote = await Deno.copy(writer, tar.getReader());
+
+  // 3072 = 512 (header) + 512 (content) + 512 (header) + 512 (content) + 1024 (footer)
+  assertEquals(wrote, 3072);
+});
+
+test(async function deflateTarArchive(): Promise<void> {
+  const fileName = "output.txt";
+  const text = "hello tar world!";
+
+  // create a tar archive
+  const tar = new Tar();
+  const content = new TextEncoder().encode(text);
+  await tar.append(fileName, {
+    reader: new Deno.Buffer(content),
+    contentSize: content.byteLength
+  });
+
+  // read data from a tar archive
+  const untar = new Untar(tar.getReader());
+  const buf = new Deno.Buffer();
+  const result = await untar.extract(buf);
+  const untarText = new TextDecoder("utf-8").decode(buf.bytes());
+
+  // tests
+  assertEquals(result.fileName, fileName);
+  assertEquals(untarText, text);
+});
+
+test(async function appendFileWithLongNameToTarArchive(): Promise<void> {
+  // 9 * 15 + 13 = 148 bytes
+  const fileName = new Array(10).join("long-file-name/") + "file-name.txt";
+  const text = "hello tar world!";
+
+  // create a tar archive
+  const tar = new Tar();
+  const content = new TextEncoder().encode(text);
+  await tar.append(fileName, {
+    reader: new Deno.Buffer(content),
+    contentSize: content.byteLength
+  });
+
+  // read data from a tar archive
+  const untar = new Untar(tar.getReader());
+  const buf = new Deno.Buffer();
+  const result = await untar.extract(buf);
+  const untarText = new TextDecoder("utf-8").decode(buf.bytes());
+
+  // tests
+  assertEquals(result.fileName, fileName);
+  assertEquals(untarText, text);
+});
+
+runIfMain(import.meta);
diff --git a/archive/testdata/example.txt b/archive/testdata/example.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a04238969736
--- /dev/null
+++ b/archive/testdata/example.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+hello world!
diff --git a/test.ts b/test.ts
index 869be1c8c716..cc921cf9f150 100755
--- a/test.ts
+++ b/test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env deno run -A
 // Copyright 2018-2019 the Deno authors. All rights reserved. MIT license.
+import "./archive/tar_test.ts";
 import "./colors/test.ts";
 import "./datetime/test.ts";
 import "./examples/test.ts";