diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
index 53abf6c40d..c3124feb65 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
@@ -192,7 +192,14 @@ class AbstractFileDownloadStrategy < AbstractDownloadStrategy
       with_system_path { buffered_write("bunzip2") }
     when :gzip, :bzip2, :compress, :tar
       # Assume these are also tarred
-      tar_flags = (ARGV.verbose? && ENV["TRAVIS"].nil?) ? "xvf" : "xf"
+      tar_flags = (ARGV.verbose? && ENV["TRAVIS"].nil?) ? "xv" : "x"
+      # Older versions of tar require an explicit format flag
+      if cached_location.compression_type == :gzip
+        tar_flags << "z"
+      elsif cached_location.compression_type == :bzip2
+        tar_flags << "j"
+      end
+      tar_flags << "f"
       with_system_path { safe_system "tar", tar_flags, cached_location }
       chdir
     when :xz