diff --git a/full-system-backup/full-system-backup b/full-system-backup/full-system-backup
index 1502c68..00d084f 100755
--- a/full-system-backup/full-system-backup
+++ b/full-system-backup/full-system-backup
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ tmpdir=$(mktemp -d) || exit 1
 	exit 1
 }
 
+# defaults to gzip (none, lzop, gzip, bzip2 are allowed)
+[ -n "$BACKUP_COMPRESS" ] || BACKUP_COMPRESS="gzip"
+
 # log to stderr when debugging
 [ -z "$DEBUG" ] && exec 2>${tmpdir}/msg
 
@@ -33,21 +36,55 @@ filestat() {
 	stat -c "$format %N" $1 2>/dev/null
 }
 
-storage() {
+storage_filename() {
 	FILENAME="$1"
+	COMPRESS="$2"
+
+	case "$COMPRESS" in
+	none)	echo "$FILENAME"
+		;;
+
+	lzop)	echo "${FILENAME}.lzo"
+		;;
+
+	bzip2)	echo "${FILENAME}.bz2"
+		;;
+
+	*)	echo "${FILENAME}.gz"
+		;;
+	esac
+}
+
+storage_put() {
+	FILENAME="$1"
+	COMPRESS="$2"
+
+	case "$COMPRESS" in
+	none)	comp_bin="cat"
+		;;
+
+	lzop)	comp_bin="lzop -c"
+		;;
+
+	bzip2)	comp_bin="bzip2 -c"
+		;;
+
+	*)	comp_bin="gzip -c"
+		;;
+	esac
 
 	# put file in local storage directory and copy it later to remote storage
 	if [ -n "$LOCAL_STORAGE_PATH" ]; then
-		cat > ${LOCAL_STORAGE_PATH}/${FILENAME}
+		$comp_bin > ${LOCAL_STORAGE_PATH}/${FILENAME}
 		echo "$FILENAME: ($(filesize ${LOCAL_STORAGE_PATH}/${FILENAME}))" >&2
 
 	# copy file only via ssh
 	elif [ "$REMOTE_STORAGE_TYPE" == "ssh" ]; then
-		ssh $REMOTE_STORAGE_HOST "cat > ${REMOTE_STORAGE_PATH}/${FILENAME}"
+		$comp_bin | ssh $REMOTE_STORAGE_HOST "cat > ${REMOTE_STORAGE_PATH}/${FILENAME}"
 
 	# copy file only via ftp
 	elif [ "$REMOTE_STORAGE_TYPE" == "ftp" ]; then
-		ncftpput $ftp_cred -U 0077 -V -c $REMOTE_STORAGE_HOST "${REMOTE_STORAGE_PATH}/${FILENAME}"
+		$comp_bin | ncftpput $ftp_cred -U 0077 -V -c $REMOTE_STORAGE_HOST "${REMOTE_STORAGE_PATH}/${FILENAME}"
 	fi
 }
 
@@ -108,6 +145,9 @@ esac
 created_files=""
 for name in $BACKUPS; do
 	eval type=\${BACKUP_${name}}
+	eval comp=\${BACKUP_${name}_COMPRESS}
+
+	[ -n "$comp" ] || comp="$BACKUP_COMPRESS"
 
 	echo -e "\nBACKUP_$name: (type: ${type})" >&2
 
@@ -127,8 +167,8 @@ for name in $BACKUPS; do
 			excluded="${excluded} --exclude ${tmp}"
 		done
 
-		filename="${BACKUP_PREFIX}.${name}.tar.gz"
-		[ -n "$files" ] && tar --numeric-owner -C / -czf - $excluded $files | storage $filename
+		filename="$(storage_filename ${BACKUP_PREFIX}.${name}.tar $comp)"
+		[ -n "$files" ] && tar --numeric-owner -C / -cf - $excluded $files | storage_put $filename $comp
 		;;
 
 	mysql)	# mysql dump of some/all tables
@@ -155,13 +195,13 @@ for name in $BACKUPS; do
 			created_mysql_files="$created_mysql_files ${db}-schema.sql ${db}-data.sql"
 		done
 
-		filename="${BACKUP_PREFIX}.${name}.tar.gz"
-		[ -n "$created_mysql_files" ] && tar -C $tmpdir -czf - $created_mysql_files | storage $filename
+		filename="$(storage_filename ${BACKUP_PREFIX}.${name}.tar $comp)"
+		[ -n "$created_mysql_files" ] && tar -C $tmpdir -cf - $created_mysql_files | storage_put $filename $comp
 		;;
 
 	ldap)	# slapcat of slapd database
-		filename="${BACKUP_PREFIX}.${name}.ldif.gz"
-		slapcat | gzip | storage $filename
+		filename="$(storage_filename ${BACKUP_PREFIX}.${name}.ldif $comp)"
+		slapcat | storage_put $filename $comp
 		;;
 
 	*)	echo "Invalid backup type: <${type}>" >&2