diff --git a/src/lzma/lzma_binding.c b/src/lzma/lzma_binding.c
index 458fdcbc42..b6f787fe53 100644
--- a/src/lzma/lzma_binding.c
+++ b/src/lzma/lzma_binding.c
@@ -315,6 +315,27 @@ static SRes report_progress(void *p, UInt64 in_size, UInt64 out_size) {
     return SZ_OK;
 }
 
+static PyObject*
+get_lzma2_properties(int preset) {
+    CLzma2EncHandle lzma2 = NULL;
+    CLzma2EncProps props;
+    Byte props_out = 0;
+    SRes res = SZ_OK;
+    lzma2 = Lzma2Enc_Create(&allocator, &allocator);
+    if (lzma2 == NULL) { PyErr_NoMemory(); goto exit; }
+
+    // Initialize parameters based on the preset
+    init_props(&props, preset);
+    res = Lzma2Enc_SetProps(lzma2, &props);
+    if (res != SZ_OK) { SET_ERROR(res); goto exit; }
+    props_out = Lzma2Enc_WriteProperties(lzma2);
+exit:
+    if (lzma2) Lzma2Enc_Destroy(lzma2);
+    if (PyErr_Occurred()) return NULL;
+    return Py_BuildValue("s#", &props_out, 1);
+}
+
+
 static PyObject*
 compress(PyObject *self, PyObject *args) {
     PyObject *read = NULL, *write = NULL, *progress_callback = NULL;
@@ -393,15 +414,21 @@ static PyMethodDef lzma_binding_methods[] = {
 
 PyMODINIT_FUNC
 initlzma_binding(void) {
-    PyObject *m = NULL;
+    PyObject *m = NULL, *preset_map = NULL, *temp = NULL;
+    int i = 0;
     init_crc_table();
     LZMAError = PyErr_NewException("lzma_binding.error", NULL, NULL);
     if (!LZMAError) return;
-    m = Py_InitModule3("lzma_binding", lzma_binding_methods,
-    "Bindings to the LZMA (de)compression C code"
-    );
+    m = Py_InitModule3("lzma_binding", lzma_binding_methods, "Bindings to the LZMA (de)compression C code");
+    if (m == NULL) return;
+    preset_map = PyTuple_New(10);
+    if (preset_map == NULL) return;
+    for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
+        temp = get_lzma2_properties(i);
+        if (temp == NULL) return;
+        PyTuple_SET_ITEM(preset_map, i, temp);
+    }
+    PyModule_AddObject(m, "preset_map", preset_map);
     Py_INCREF(LZMAError);
     PyModule_AddObject(m, "error", LZMAError);
-
-    if (m == NULL) return;
 }
diff --git a/src/lzma/xz.py b/src/lzma/xz.py
index 1398780e8b..b08c717774 100644
--- a/src/lzma/xz.py
+++ b/src/lzma/xz.py
@@ -6,19 +6,31 @@ from __future__ import (unicode_literals, division, absolute_import,
 __license__ = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2015, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>'
 
+# See http://tukaani.org/xz/xz-file-format.txt for file format details
+
 from collections import namedtuple
 from io import BytesIO
 from hashlib import sha256
-from struct import unpack, error as struct_error
+from struct import unpack, error as struct_error, pack
 from binascii import crc32 as _crc32
 
 from calibre.ptempfile import SpooledTemporaryFile
 from lzma.errors import NotXZ, InvalidXZ, lzma
 
 HEADER_MAGIC = b'\xfd7zXZ\0'
+FOOTER_MAGIC = b'YZ'
 DELTA_FILTER_ID = 0x03
 LZMA2_FILTER_ID = 0x21
 
+def align(raw):
+    extra = len(raw) % 4
+    if extra:
+        raw += b'\0' * (4 - extra)
+    return raw
+
+def as_bytes(*args):
+    return bytes(bytearray(args))
+
 def crc32(raw, start=0):
     return 0xFFFFFFFF & _crc32(raw, start)
 
@@ -89,12 +101,16 @@ class CRCChecker(object):
         if self.func is not crc32:
             self.code = 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFL & self.code
 
+    @property
+    def code_as_bytes(self):
+        return pack(self.fmt, self.code)
+
     def check(self, raw):
         return self.code == unpack(self.fmt, raw)[0]
 
 class Sha256Checker(object):
 
-    def __init__(self):
+    def __init__(self, *args):
         self.h = sha256()
         self.func = self.h.update
         self.code = None
@@ -104,7 +120,7 @@ class Sha256Checker(object):
         self.func(raw)
 
     def finish(self):
-        self.code = self.h.digest()
+        self.code = self.code_as_bytes = self.h.digest()
         self.h = self.func = None
 
     def check(self, raw):
@@ -113,6 +129,10 @@ class Sha256Checker(object):
 class DummyChecker(object):
 
     size = 0
+    code_as_bytes = None
+
+    def __init__(self, *args):
+        pass
 
     def __call__(self, raw):
         pass
@@ -287,7 +307,7 @@ def read_stream_footer(f, check_type, index_size):
     backward_size = 4 * (1 + backward_size)
     if backward_size != index_size:
         raise InvalidXZ('Footer backward size != actual index size')
-    if f.read(2) != b'YZ':
+    if f.read(2) != FOOTER_MAGIC:
         raise InvalidXZ('Stream footer has incorrect magic bytes')
     if crc != crc32(raw):
         raise InvalidXZ('Stream footer CRC mismatch')
@@ -310,10 +330,17 @@ def read_stream(f, outfile):
     read_stream_footer(f, check_type, index_size)
 
 def decompress(raw, outfile=None):
+    '''
+    Decompress the specified data.
+
+    :param raw: A bytestring or a file-like object open for reading
+    :outfile: A file like object open for writing.
+              The decompressed data is written into it. If not specified then a SpooledTemporaryFile
+              is created and returned by this function.
+    '''
     if isinstance(raw, bytes):
         raw = BytesIO(raw)
     outfile = outfile or SpooledTemporaryFile(50 * 1024 * 1024, '_xz_decompress')
-    outfile.seek(0)
     while True:
         read_stream(raw, outfile)
         pos = raw.tell()
@@ -332,16 +359,91 @@ def decompress(raw, outfile=None):
                     raise InvalidXZ('Found trailing garbage between streams')
     return outfile
 
+def compress(raw, outfile=None, level=5, check_type='crc64'):
+    '''
+    Compress the specified data into a .xz stream (which can be written directly as
+    an .xz file.
+
+    :param raw: A bytestring or a file-like object open for reading
+    :outfile: A file like object open for writing.
+              The .xz stream is written into it. If not specified then a SpooledTemporaryFile
+              is created and returned by this function.
+    :level: An integer between 0 and 9 with 0 being fastest/worst compression and 9 being
+            slowest/best compression
+    :check_type: The type of data integrity check to write into the output .xz stream.
+                 Should be one of: 'crc32', 'crc64', 'sha256', or None
+    '''
+    if isinstance(raw, bytes):
+        raw = BytesIO(raw)
+    outfile = outfile or SpooledTemporaryFile(50 * 1024 * 1024, '_xz_decompress')
+
+    # Write stream header
+    outfile.write(HEADER_MAGIC)
+    check_type = {'crc':1, 'crc32':1, 'sha256':0xa, None:0, '':0, 'none':0, 'None':0}.get(check_type, 4)
+    stream_flags = as_bytes(0, check_type)
+    outfile.write(stream_flags)
+    outfile.write(pack(b'<I', crc32(stream_flags)))
+
+    # Write block header
+    filter_flags = encode_var_int(LZMA2_FILTER_ID) + encode_var_int(1) + lzma.preset_map[level]
+    block_header = align(b'\0\0' + filter_flags)
+    bhs = ((4 + len(block_header)) // 4) - 1
+    block_header = as_bytes(bhs) + block_header[1:]
+    block_header += pack(b'<I', crc32(block_header))
+    start = outfile.tell()
+    outfile.write(block_header)
+
+    # Write compressed data and check
+    checker = {0:DummyChecker, 1:CRCChecker, 4:CRCChecker, 0xa:Sha256Checker}[check_type](check_type)
+    uncompressed_size = [0]
+    def read(n):
+        ans = raw.read(n)
+        if ans:
+            uncompressed_size[0] += len(ans)
+            checker(ans)
+        return ans
+    unpadded_size = outfile.tell() - start
+    pos = outfile.tell()
+    if pos % 4:
+        outfile.write(b'\0' * (4 - (pos % 4)))
+    checker.finish()
+    if check_type:
+        cc = checker.code_as_bytes
+        outfile.write(cc)
+        unpadded_size += len(cc)
+
+    # Write index
+    index = b'\0' + encode_var_int(1)
+    index += encode_var_int(unpadded_size) + encode_var_int(uncompressed_size[0])
+    if len(index) % 4:
+        index += b'\0' * (4 - len(index) % 4)
+    outfile.write(index), outfile.write(pack(b'<I', crc32(index)))
+
+    # Write stream footer
+    backwards_size = pack(b'<I', ((len(index) + 4) // 4) - 1)
+    outfile.write(pack(b'<I', crc32(backwards_size + stream_flags)))
+    outfile.write(backwards_size), outfile.write(stream_flags), outfile.write(FOOTER_MAGIC)
+
 def test_lzma2():
     raw = P('template-functions.json', allow_user_override=False, data=True)
     ibuf, obuf = BytesIO(raw), BytesIO()
-    props = lzma.compress(ibuf.read, obuf.write)
+    props = lzma.compress(ibuf.read, obuf.write, False)
     cc = obuf.getvalue()
     ibuf, obuf = BytesIO(cc), BytesIO()
     LZMA2Filter(props, 0, 1)(ibuf, obuf)
     if obuf.getvalue() != raw:
         raise ValueError('Roundtripping via LZMA2 failed')
 
+def test_xz():
+    raw = P('template-functions.json', allow_user_override=False, data=True)
+    ibuf, obuf = BytesIO(raw), BytesIO()
+    compress(ibuf, obuf, check_type='sha256')
+    cc = obuf.getvalue()
+    ibuf, obuf = BytesIO(cc), BytesIO()
+    decompress(ibuf, obuf)
+    if obuf.getvalue() != raw:
+        raise ValueError('Roundtripping via XZ failed')
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     import sys
     decompress(open(sys.argv[-1], 'rb'))