diff --git a/cmd/mkinitfs/main.go b/cmd/mkinitfs/main.go
index 37de407..0236a49 100644
--- a/cmd/mkinitfs/main.go
+++ b/cmd/mkinitfs/main.go
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ func main() {
 		return
 	}
 
+	// deviceinfo.InitfsCompression needs a little more post-processing
+	compressionFormat, compressionLevel := archive.ExtractFormatLevel(devinfo.InitfsCompression)
+
 	defer misc.TimeFunc(time.Now(), "mkinitfs")
 
 	kernVer, err := osutil.GetKernelVersion()
@@ -91,7 +94,7 @@ func main() {
 	log.Print("Generating for kernel version: ", kernVer)
 	log.Print("Output directory: ", *outDir)
 
-	if err := generateArchive("initramfs", devinfo.InitfsCompression, workDir, []filelist.FileLister{
+	if err := generateArchive("initramfs", compressionFormat, compressionLevel, workDir, []filelist.FileLister{
 		hookdirs.New("/usr/share/mkinitfs/dirs"),
 		hookdirs.New("/etc/mkinitfs/dirs"),
 		hookfiles.New("/usr/share/mkinitfs/files"),
@@ -107,7 +110,7 @@ func main() {
 		return
 	}
 
-	if err := generateArchive("initramfs-extra", devinfo.InitfsCompression, workDir, []filelist.FileLister{
+	if err := generateArchive("initramfs-extra", compressionFormat, compressionLevel, workDir, []filelist.FileLister{
 		hookfiles.New("/usr/share/mkinitfs/files-extra"),
 		hookfiles.New("/etc/mkinitfs/files-extra"),
 		hookscripts.New("/usr/share/mkinitfs/hooks-extra"),
@@ -141,10 +144,10 @@ func bootDeploy(workDir, outDir, ubootBoardname string) error {
 	return bd.Run()
 }
 
-func generateArchive(name string, compressionFormat string, path string, features []filelist.FileLister) error {
+func generateArchive(name string, format archive.CompressFormat, level archive.CompressLevel, path string, features []filelist.FileLister) error {
 	log.Printf("== Generating %s ==\n", name)
 	defer misc.TimeFunc(time.Now(), name)
-	a, err := archive.New(archive.CompressFormat(compressionFormat))
+	a, err := archive.New(format, level)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/internal/archive/archive.go b/internal/archive/archive.go
index 0eb4554..b22b2a9 100644
--- a/internal/archive/archive.go
+++ b/internal/archive/archive.go
@@ -45,14 +45,16 @@ type Archive struct {
 	cpioWriter      *cpio.Writer
 	buf             *bytes.Buffer
 	compress_format CompressFormat
+	compress_level  CompressLevel
 }
 
-func New(format CompressFormat) (*Archive, error) {
+func New(format CompressFormat, level CompressLevel) (*Archive, error) {
 	buf := new(bytes.Buffer)
 	archive := &Archive{
 		cpioWriter:      cpio.NewWriter(buf),
 		buf:             buf,
 		compress_format: format,
+		compress_level:  level,
 	}
 
 	return archive, nil