diff --git a/docs/docsite/rst/reference_appendices/galaxy.rst b/docs/docsite/rst/reference_appendices/galaxy.rst
index 052e1974e47..352d79cb49c 100644
--- a/docs/docsite/rst/reference_appendices/galaxy.rst
+++ b/docs/docsite/rst/reference_appendices/galaxy.rst
@@ -120,7 +120,15 @@ Use the following example as a guide for specifying roles in *requirements.yml*:
 
     # from a webserver, where the role is packaged in a tar.gz
     - src: https://some.webserver.example.com/files/master.tar.gz
-      name: http-role
+      name: http-role-gz
+
+    # from a webserver, where the role is packaged in a tar.bz2
+    - src: https://some.webserver.example.com/files/master.tar.bz2
+      name: http-role-bz2
+
+    # from a webserver, where the role is packaged in a tar.xz (Python 3.x only)
+    - src: https://some.webserver.example.com/files/master.tar.xz
+      name: http-role-xz
 
     # from Bitbucket
     - src: git+https://bitbucket.org/willthames/git-ansible-galaxy
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/galaxy.py b/lib/ansible/cli/galaxy.py
index 25304abad7e..cf214c2e969 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/galaxy.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/galaxy.py
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ class GalaxyCLI(CLI):
     def execute_install(self):
         """
         uses the args list of roles to be installed, unless -f was specified. The list of roles
-        can be a name (which will be downloaded via the galaxy API and github), or it can be a local .tar.gz file.
+        can be a name (which will be downloaded via the galaxy API and github), or it can be a local tar archive file.
         """
         role_file = context.CLIARGS['role_file']
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/galaxy/role.py b/lib/ansible/galaxy/role.py
index 61776c88509..a7ecdc08ce4 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/galaxy/role.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/galaxy/role.py
@@ -256,12 +256,9 @@ class GalaxyRole(object):
             display.debug("installing from %s" % tmp_file)
 
             if not tarfile.is_tarfile(tmp_file):
-                raise AnsibleError("the file downloaded was not a tar.gz")
+                raise AnsibleError("the downloaded file does not appear to be a valid tar archive.")
             else:
-                if tmp_file.endswith('.gz'):
-                    role_tar_file = tarfile.open(tmp_file, "r:gz")
-                else:
-                    role_tar_file = tarfile.open(tmp_file, "r")
+                role_tar_file = tarfile.open(tmp_file, "r")
                 # verify the role's meta file
                 meta_file = None
                 members = role_tar_file.getmembers()