diff --git a/meta/classes-global/package_rpm.bbclass b/meta/classes-global/package_rpm.bbclass
index 246106ea4f..da25b7682c 100644
--- a/meta/classes-global/package_rpm.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-global/package_rpm.bbclass
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ RPMBUILD = "rpmbuild"
 
 PKGWRITEDIRRPM = "${WORKDIR}/deploy-rpms"
 
+# Override variable to use alternative 'xz' or 'none' compression
+RPM_COMPRESSION ?= "zstd"
+
 # Maintaining the perfile dependencies has significant overhead when writing the
 # packages. When set, this value merges them for efficiency.
 MERGEPERFILEDEPS = "1"
@@ -659,6 +662,7 @@ python do_package_rpm () {
 
     # Setup the rpmbuild arguments...
     rpmbuild = d.getVar('RPMBUILD')
+    rpmcomp = d.getVar('RPM_COMPRESSION')
 
     # Too many places in dnf stack assume that arch-independent packages are "noarch".
     # Let's not fight against this.
@@ -682,8 +686,16 @@ python do_package_rpm () {
     cmd = cmd + " --define '_use_internal_dependency_generator 0'"
     cmd = cmd + " --define '_binaries_in_noarch_packages_terminate_build 0'"
     cmd = cmd + " --define '_build_id_links none'"
-    cmd = cmd + " --define '_binary_payload w19T%d.zstdio'" % int(d.getVar("ZSTD_THREADS"))
-    cmd = cmd + " --define '_source_payload w19T%d.zstdio'" % int(d.getVar("ZSTD_THREADS"))
+    if rpmcomp == "zstd":
+        cmd = cmd + " --define '_binary_payload w19T%d.zstdio'" % int(d.getVar("ZSTD_THREADS"))
+        cmd = cmd + " --define '_source_payload w19T%d.zstdio'" % int(d.getVar("ZSTD_THREADS"))
+    elif rpmcomp == 'xz':
+        cmd = cmd + " --define '_binary_payload w6T%d.xzdio'" % int(d.getVar("XZ_THREADS"))
+        cmd = cmd + " --define '_source_payload w6T%d.xzdio'" % int(d.getVar("XZ_THREADS"))
+    elif rpmcomp == 'none':
+        pass
+    else:
+        bb.fatal('unsupported rpm compression method: "%s"' % rpmcomp)
     cmd = cmd + " --define 'clamp_mtime_to_source_date_epoch 1'"
     cmd = cmd + " --define 'use_source_date_epoch_as_buildtime 1'"
     cmd = cmd + " --define '_buildhost reproducible'"