diff --git a/rpmio/rpmio.c b/rpmio/rpmio.c
index cd223e8..f23fc11 100644
--- a/rpmio/rpmio.c
+++ b/rpmio/rpmio.c
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include "system.h"
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <errno.h>
+#include <ctype.h>
 
 #include <rpm/rpmlog.h>
 #include <rpm/rpmmacro.h>
@@ -873,7 +874,12 @@ static const char * getFdErrstr (FD_t fd)
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>
+#define LZMA_UNSTABLE
 #include <lzma.h>
+/* Multithreading support in stable API since xz 5.2.0 */
+#if LZMA_VERSION >= 50010020
+#define HAVE_LZMA_MT
+#endif
 
 #define kBufferSize (1 << 15)
 
@@ -897,7 +902,10 @@ static LZFILE *lzopen_internal(const char *path, const char *mode, int fd, int x
     LZFILE *lzfile;
     lzma_ret ret;
     lzma_stream init_strm = LZMA_STREAM_INIT;
-
+    uint64_t mem_limit = rpmExpandNumeric("%{_xz_memlimit}");
+#ifdef HAVE_LZMA_MT
+    int threads = 0;
+#endif
     for (; *mode; mode++) {
 	if (*mode == 'w')
 	    encoding = 1;
@@ -905,6 +913,21 @@ static LZFILE *lzopen_internal(const char *path, const char *mode, int fd, int x
 	    encoding = 0;
 	else if (*mode >= '1' && *mode <= '9')
 	    level = *mode - '0';
+	else if (*mode == 'T') {
+	    if (isdigit(*(mode+1))) {
+#ifdef HAVE_LZMA_MT
+		threads = atoi(++mode);
+#endif
+		/* skip past rest of digits in string that atoi()
+		 * should've processed
+		 * */
+		while(isdigit(*++mode));
+	    }
+#ifdef HAVE_LZMA_MT
+	    else
+		threads = -1;
+#endif
+	}
     }
     if (fd != -1)
 	fp = fdopen(fd, encoding ? "w" : "r");
@@ -924,16 +947,48 @@ static LZFILE *lzopen_internal(const char *path, const char *mode, int fd, int x
     lzfile->strm = init_strm;
     if (encoding) {
 	if (xz) {
-	    ret = lzma_easy_encoder(&lzfile->strm, level, LZMA_CHECK_SHA256);
+#ifdef HAVE_LZMA_MT
+	    if (!threads) {
+#endif
+		ret = lzma_easy_encoder(&lzfile->strm, level, LZMA_CHECK_SHA256);
+#ifdef HAVE_LZMA_MT
+	    } else {
+		if (threads == -1)
+		    threads = sysconf(_SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN);
+		lzma_mt mt_options = {
+		    .flags = 0,
+		    .threads = threads,
+		    .block_size = 0,
+		    .timeout = 0,
+		    .preset = level,
+		    .filters = NULL,
+		    .check = LZMA_CHECK_SHA256 };
+
+		ret = lzma_stream_encoder_mt(&lzfile->strm, &mt_options);
+	    }
+#endif
 	} else {
 	    lzma_options_lzma options;
 	    lzma_lzma_preset(&options, level);
 	    ret = lzma_alone_encoder(&lzfile->strm, &options);
 	}
-    } else {	/* lzma_easy_decoder_memusage(level) is not ready yet, use hardcoded limit for now */
-	ret = lzma_auto_decoder(&lzfile->strm, 100<<20, 0);
+    } else {   /* lzma_easy_decoder_memusage(level) is not ready yet, use hardcoded limit for now */
+	ret = lzma_auto_decoder(&lzfile->strm, mem_limit ? mem_limit : 100<<20, 0);
     }
     if (ret != LZMA_OK) {
+	switch (ret) {
+	    case LZMA_MEM_ERROR:
+		rpmlog(RPMLOG_ERR, "liblzma: Memory allocation failed");
+		break;
+
+	    case LZMA_DATA_ERROR:
+		rpmlog(RPMLOG_ERR, "liblzma: File size limits exceeded");
+		break;
+
+	    default:
+		rpmlog(RPMLOG_ERR, "liblzma: <Unknown error (%d), possibly a bug", ret);
+		break;
+	}
 	fclose(fp);
 	free(lzfile);
 	return 0;