diff --git a/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py b/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
index a904e32..ce543df 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@
     import bz2
 except ImportError:
     bz2 = None
+try:
+    import lzma
+except ImportError:
+    lzma = None
 
 def md5sum(data):
     return md5(data).hexdigest()
@@ -29,6 +33,7 @@
 tarname = support.findfile("testtar.tar")
 gzipname = os.path.join(TEMPDIR, "testtar.tar.gz")
 bz2name = os.path.join(TEMPDIR, "testtar.tar.bz2")
+xzname = os.path.join(TEMPDIR, "testtar.tar.xz")
 tmpname = os.path.join(TEMPDIR, "tmp.tar")
 
 md5_regtype = "65f477c818ad9e15f7feab0c6d37742f"
@@ -201,13 +206,15 @@
             _open = gzip.GzipFile
         elif self.mode.endswith(":bz2"):
             _open = bz2.BZ2File
+        elif self.mode.endswith(":xz"):
+            _open = lzma.LZMAFile
         else:
-            _open = open
+            _open = io.FileIO
 
         for char in (b'\0', b'a'):
             # Test if EOFHeaderError ('\0') and InvalidHeaderError ('a')
             # are ignored correctly.
-            with _open(tmpname, "wb") as fobj:
+            with _open(tmpname, "w") as fobj:
                 fobj.write(char * 1024)
                 fobj.write(tarfile.TarInfo("foo").tobuf())
 
@@ -222,9 +229,10 @@
 class MiscReadTest(CommonReadTest):
 
     def test_no_name_argument(self):
-        if self.mode.endswith("bz2"):
-            # BZ2File has no name attribute.
-            return
+        if self.mode.endswith(("bz2", "xz")):
+            # BZ2File and LZMAFile have no name attribute.
+            self.skipTest("no name attribute")
+
         with open(self.tarname, "rb") as fobj:
             tar = tarfile.open(fileobj=fobj, mode=self.mode)
             self.assertEqual(tar.name, os.path.abspath(fobj.name))
@@ -265,10 +273,12 @@
             _open = gzip.GzipFile
         elif self.mode.endswith(":bz2"):
             _open = bz2.BZ2File
+        elif self.mode.endswith(":xz"):
+            _open = lzma.LZMAFile
         else:
-            _open = open
-        fobj = _open(self.tarname, "rb")
-        try:
+            _open = io.FileIO
+
+        with _open(self.tarname) as fobj:
             fobj.seek(offset)
 
             # Test if the tarfile starts with the second member.
@@ -281,8 +291,6 @@
             self.assertEqual(tar.extractfile(t).read(), data,
                     "seek back did not work")
             tar.close()
-        finally:
-            fobj.close()
 
     def test_fail_comp(self):
         # For Gzip and Bz2 Tests: fail with a ReadError on an uncompressed file.
@@ -526,6 +534,18 @@
             testfunc(bz2name, "r|*")
             testfunc(bz2name, "r|bz2")
 
+        if lzma:
+            self.assertRaises(tarfile.ReadError, tarfile.open, tarname, mode="r:xz")
+            self.assertRaises(tarfile.ReadError, tarfile.open, tarname, mode="r|xz")
+            self.assertRaises(tarfile.ReadError, tarfile.open, xzname, mode="r:")
+            self.assertRaises(tarfile.ReadError, tarfile.open, xzname, mode="r|")
+
+            testfunc(xzname, "r")
+            testfunc(xzname, "r:*")
+            testfunc(xzname, "r:xz")
+            testfunc(xzname, "r|*")
+            testfunc(xzname, "r|xz")
+
     def test_detect_file(self):
         self._test_modes(self._testfunc_file)
 
@@ -1096,6 +1116,9 @@
             data = dec.decompress(data)
             self.assertTrue(len(dec.unused_data) == 0,
                     "found trailing data")
+        elif self.mode.endswith("xz"):
+            with lzma.LZMAFile(tmpname) as fobj:
+                data = fobj.read()
         else:
             with open(tmpname, "rb") as fobj:
                 data = fobj.read()
@@ -1510,6 +1533,12 @@
         self._create_testtar("w:bz2")
         self.assertRaises(tarfile.ReadError, tarfile.open, tmpname, "a")
 
+    def test_append_lzma(self):
+        if lzma is None:
+            self.skipTest("lzma module not available")
+        self._create_testtar("w:xz")
+        self.assertRaises(tarfile.ReadError, tarfile.open, tmpname, "a")
+
     # Append mode is supposed to fail if the tarfile to append to
     # does not end with a zero block.
     def _test_error(self, data):
@@ -1788,6 +1817,21 @@
         self._test_partial_input("r:bz2")
 
 
+class LzmaMiscReadTest(MiscReadTest):
+    tarname = xzname
+    mode = "r:xz"
+class LzmaUstarReadTest(UstarReadTest):
+    tarname = xzname
+    mode = "r:xz"
+class LzmaStreamReadTest(StreamReadTest):
+    tarname = xzname
+    mode = "r|xz"
+class LzmaWriteTest(WriteTest):
+    mode = "w:xz"
+class LzmaStreamWriteTest(StreamWriteTest):
+    mode = "w|xz"
+
+
 def test_main():
     support.unlink(TEMPDIR)
     os.makedirs(TEMPDIR)
@@ -1850,6 +1894,20 @@
             Bz2PartialReadTest,
         ]
 
+    if lzma:
+        # Create testtar.tar.xz and add lzma-specific tests.
+        support.unlink(xzname)
+        with lzma.LZMAFile(xzname, "w") as tar:
+            tar.write(data)
+
+        tests += [
+            LzmaMiscReadTest,
+            LzmaUstarReadTest,
+            LzmaStreamReadTest,
+            LzmaWriteTest,
+            LzmaStreamWriteTest,
+        ]
+
     try:
         support.run_unittest(*tests)
     finally: