diff --git a/app-container/actool/build.go b/app-container/actool/build.go
index aaa68a8..66942eb 100644
--- a/app-container/actool/build.go
+++ b/app-container/actool/build.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"archive/tar"
+	"compress/gzip"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -122,15 +123,19 @@ func runBuild(args []string) (exit int) {
 		}
 		return 1
 	}
+
+	gw := gzip.NewWriter(fh)
+	tr := tar.NewWriter(gw)
+
 	defer func() {
+		tr.Close()
+		gw.Close()
+		fh.Close()
 		if exit != 0 && !buildOverwrite {
-			fh.Close()
 			os.Remove(tgt)
 		}
 	}()
 
-	tr := tar.NewWriter(fh)
-
 	var aw aci.ArchiveWriter
 	if buildFilesetName != "" {
 		aw, err = aci.NewFilesetWriter(buildFilesetName, tr)