diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/DebianPlugin.scala b/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/DebianPlugin.scala
index adf0d5caf..5d5d724f7 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/DebianPlugin.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/DebianPlugin.scala
@@ -158,7 +158,8 @@ object DebianPlugin extends AutoPlugin with DebianNativePackaging {
       (maintainerScripts in Debian).value,
       (linuxScriptReplacements in Debian).value,
       (target in Universal).value
-    )
+    ),
+    debianNativeBuildOptions := Nil
   )
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/Keys.scala b/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/Keys.scala
index 7f1a2db67..498c05222 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/Keys.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/Keys.scala
@@ -49,4 +49,6 @@ trait DebianKeys {
   val debianMakeChownReplacements = TaskKey[(String, String)]("debianMakeChownReplacements", "Creates the chown commands for correct own files and directories")
 
   val debianPackageInstallSize = TaskKey[Long]("debian-installed-size")
+
+  val debianNativeBuildOptions = SettingKey[Seq[String]]("debian-native-build-options", "Options passed to dpkg-deb, e.g. compression level")
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/NativePackaging.scala b/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/NativePackaging.scala
index 2fdc47e6b..162949692 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/NativePackaging.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/NativePackaging.scala
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ trait DebianNativePackaging extends DebianPluginLike {
    * package.
    */
   private[debian] def debianNativeSettings: Seq[Setting[_]] = inConfig(Debian)(Seq(
+    debianNativeBuildOptions += "-Znone", // packages are largely JARs, which are already compressed
     genChanges <<= (packageBin, target, debianChangelog, name, version, debianPackageMetadata) map {
       (pkg, tdir, changelog, name, version, data) =>
         changelog match {
@@ -81,12 +82,12 @@ trait DebianNativePackaging extends DebianPluginLike {
     },
 
     /** Implementation of the actual packaging  */
-    packageBin <<= (debianExplodedPackage, debianMD5sumsFile, debianSection, debianPriority, name, version, packageArchitecture, target, streams) map {
-      (pkgdir, _, section, priority, name, version, arch, tdir, s) =>
+    packageBin <<= (debianExplodedPackage, debianMD5sumsFile, debianSection, debianPriority, name, version, packageArchitecture, debianNativeBuildOptions, target, streams) map {
+      (pkgdir, _, section, priority, name, version, arch, options, tdir, s) =>
         s.log.info("Building debian package with native implementation")
         // Make the package.  We put this in fakeroot, so we can build the package with root owning files.
         val archive = archiveFilename(name, version, arch)
-        Process(Seq("fakeroot", "--", "dpkg-deb", "--build", pkgdir.getAbsolutePath, "../" + archive), Some(tdir)) ! s.log match {
+        Process(Seq("fakeroot", "--", "dpkg-deb", "--build") ++ options ++ Seq(pkgdir.getAbsolutePath, "../" + archive), Some(tdir)) ! s.log match {
           case 0 => ()
           case x => sys.error("Failure packaging debian file.  Exit code: " + x)
         }