diff --git a/profile.d/compress.sh b/profile.d/compress.sh
index 3d1cc7b..dfbb81a 100644
--- a/profile.d/compress.sh
+++ b/profile.d/compress.sh
@@ -115,9 +115,11 @@ utaz()
     # shellcheck disable=SC2329
     _unlha()
     {
-        # lha typically extracts into the current directory
-        # We ensure it hits the target directory
-        (cd "$2" && lha -x "../$1") >/dev/null 2>&1
+        # lha extracts into the current directory, so we cd into the target
+        # directory and feed it an absolute path to the archive.
+        local src
+        src=$(realpath -- "$1") || return 1
+        (cd "$2" && lha -x "$src") >/dev/null 2>&1
     }
 
     local _ununace
@@ -146,8 +148,11 @@ utaz()
     # shellcheck disable=SC2329
     _uncpio()
     {
-        # CPIO requires careful directory handling
-        (cd "$2" && cpio -id < "../$1") >/dev/null 2>&1
+        # cpio extracts into the current directory, so we cd into the target
+        # directory and read from an absolute path to the archive.
+        local src
+        src=$(realpath -- "$1") || return 1
+        (cd "$2" && cpio -id < "$src") >/dev/null 2>&1
     }
 
     local _uncabextract
@@ -249,8 +254,10 @@ utaz()
         esac
     fi
 
-    [[ -n ${createdir} && -n ${nodir} ]] && \
+    [[ -n ${createdir} && -n ${nodir} ]] && {
         disp E "The --create-dir and --no-dir options are mutually exclusive."
+        return 1
+    }
 
     for zitem in "${FILES[@]}"; do
         # Build list of input files to process, with whitespace-safe handling.
@@ -353,6 +360,10 @@ utaz()
             fi
 
             disp I "Processing archive ${f} with ${extractor}..."
+            # Track whether we create the target directory so a corrupted
+            # archive never wipes a pre-existing directory of the same name.
+            local dir_created=0
+            [[ -d "${dir}" ]] || dir_created=1
             if ! mkdir -p "${dir}"; then
                 disp E "The filesystem can't create directories, exit!" &&
                 return 1
@@ -373,7 +384,7 @@ utaz()
                 ;;
             *)
                 disp E "The compressed file ${f} seems corrupted, failed."
-                rm -rf "${dir}" >/dev/null 2>&1
+                [[ ${dir_created} -eq 1 ]] && rm -rf "${dir}" >/dev/null 2>&1
                 continue
                 ;;
             esac
@@ -444,6 +455,17 @@ taz()
         printf "%s\n" "$cpus"
     }
 
+    # Render a byte count as a human-readable size (B/KB/MB/GB/...), base 1024.
+    local _taz_human
+    # shellcheck disable=SC2329
+    _taz_human()
+    {
+        if command -v numfmt >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            numfmt --to=iec --suffix=B -- "$1" 2>/dev/null && return 0
+        fi
+        printf "%sB\n" "$1"
+    }
+
     local _doxz
     # shellcheck disable=SC2329
     _doxz()
@@ -575,6 +597,7 @@ taz()
         return 1
     fi
     eval set -- "$PARSED"
+    local compforms=()
     while true; do
         case "$1" in
         -h|--help)
@@ -608,7 +631,12 @@ taz()
             ;;
 
         -f|--format)
-            local compform=$2
+            # Accept comma/space separated lists and repeated -f flags.
+            local _f
+            # shellcheck disable=SC2086 # intentional word splitting on the list
+            for _f in ${2//,/ }; do
+                compforms+=("$_f")
+            done
             shift 2
             ;;
 
@@ -628,7 +656,7 @@ taz()
             ;;
 
         -[1-9])
-            complevel="${1#-}"
+            local complevel="${1#-}"
             shift
             ;;
         --)
@@ -647,11 +675,32 @@ taz()
     local FILES=("$@")
         [[ ${#FILES[@]} -eq 0 ]] && FILES=(".")
 
-    [[ ! $compform ]]   && compform=${TAZ_DEFAULT_FORMAT:-lz}
-    [[ ! $nproc ]]      && nproc=${TAZ_DEFAULT_THREADS:-auto}
-    [[ ! $complevel ]]  && complevel=${TAZ_DEFAULT_LEVEL:-6}
-    [[ $verbose -gt 1 && $quiet -gt 1 ]] &&
+    [[ ! $compform ]] && local compform=${TAZ_DEFAULT_FORMAT:-lz}
+    [[ ! $nproc ]] && local nproc=${TAZ_DEFAULT_THREADS:-auto}
+    [[ ! $complevel ]]  && local complevel=${TAZ_DEFAULT_LEVEL:-6}
+    [[ -n $verbose && -n $quiet ]] && {
         disp E "The --verbose and --quiet options can't be used together."
+        return 1
+    }
+
+    # Fall back to the configured (or built-in) default format list.
+    local _f
+    if [[ ${#compforms[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
+        local _deffmt=${TAZ_DEFAULT_FORMAT:-lz}
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2086 # intentional word splitting on the list
+        for _f in ${_deffmt//,/ }; do
+            compforms+=("$_f")
+        done
+    fi
+
+    # Reject unknown formats early so we never dispatch to a missing _do*.
+    local _supported=" lz xz bz2 gz lzo tar "
+    for _f in "${compforms[@]}"; do
+        [[ $_supported == *" $_f "* ]] || {
+            disp E "Unsupported format '${_f}' (supported: lz xz bz2 gz lzo tar)."
+            return 1
+        }
+    done
 
     # Backward compatibility: 0 previously meant auto-detect.
     [[ $nproc == 0 ]] && nproc=auto
@@ -662,6 +711,10 @@ taz()
         return 1
     fi
 
+    # Map each format to the extension its compressor appends. "tar" performs
+    # no compression, so its candidate is the tar (or source file) itself.
+    local -A _taz_ext=( [lz]=lz [xz]=xz [bz2]=bz2 [gz]=gz [lzo]=lzo [tar]="" )
+
     for item in "${FILES[@]}"; do
         local donetar=0
         disp I "Processing $item..."
@@ -680,31 +733,91 @@ taz()
         local fname=$item
         [[ $donetar -gt 0 ]] && fname=$item.tar
 
-        # Skip compression part if tar is asked
-        if [[ $compform != "tar" ]]; then
-            disp I "\t Compressing archive..."
-            local exec_code=0
-            "_do$compform" "$fname" "$nproc" "$complevel" "$verbose" || exec_code=$?
-            [[ ! $exec_code -eq 0 ]] && case $exec_code in
+        # Compress the archive with every requested format; the smallest
+        # resulting file is kept and the others are discarded.
+        local candidates=() fmt exec_code aborted=0
+        for fmt in "${compforms[@]}"; do
+            if [[ $fmt == tar ]]; then
+                candidates+=("$fname")
+                continue
+            fi
+
+            disp I "\t Compressing archive with ${fmt}..."
+            exec_code=0
+            "_do$fmt" "$fname" "$nproc" "$complevel" "$verbose" || exec_code=$?
+            case $exec_code in
+            0)
+                candidates+=("$fname.${_taz_ext[$fmt]}")
+                ;;
             127)
-                disp E "Compression program unavailable, aborting."
-                return 127
+                disp E "Compression program for '${fmt}' unavailable, aborting."
+                aborted=1
+                break
                 ;;
             *)
-                disp E "Compression program returned an error, not deleting anything if asked, skipping to next item."
-                continue
+                disp W "Compression with '${fmt}' failed, skipping this format."
                 ;;
             esac
+        done
 
-            [[ $donetar -gt 0 ]] && rm "$fname"
+        # Remove partial output produced before an unrecoverable abort.
+        local c
+        if [[ $aborted -eq 1 ]]; then
+            for c in "${candidates[@]}"; do
+                [[ $c != "$fname" ]] && rm -f -- "$c"
+            done
+            [[ $donetar -gt 0 ]] && rm -f -- "$fname"
+            return 127
         fi
 
+        # Select the smallest archive among the produced candidates.
+        local winner="" winner_size=-1 sz
+        local -A _csize=()
+        for c in "${candidates[@]}"; do
+            [[ -f $c ]] || continue
+            sz=$(stat -c%s -- "$c" 2>/dev/null) || continue
+            _csize["$c"]=$sz
+            if [[ $winner_size -lt 0 || $sz -lt $winner_size ]]; then
+                winner_size=$sz
+                winner=$c
+            fi
+        done
+
+        if [[ -z $winner ]]; then
+            disp E "No archive could be produced for ${item}, skipping to next item."
+            [[ $donetar -gt 0 ]] && rm -f -- "$fname"
+            continue
+        fi
+
+        # In verbose mode, list every produced archive with its size and how
+        # much larger it is than the smallest one that will be kept.
+        if [[ -n $verbose && ${#_csize[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
+            disp I "\t Produced archives:"
+            for c in "${candidates[@]}"; do
+                [[ -n ${_csize[$c]+x} ]] || continue
+                if [[ $c == "$winner" ]]; then
+                    disp "\t   ${c}  $(_taz_human "${_csize[$c]}")  (kept, smallest)"
+                else
+                    disp "\t   ${c}  $(_taz_human "${_csize[$c]}")  (+$(_taz_human "$(( _csize[$c] - winner_size ))"))"
+                fi
+            done
+        fi
+
+        # Discard every archive but the smallest, then drop the intermediate
+        # tar unless it is the kept archive.
+        for c in "${candidates[@]}"; do
+            [[ $c != "$winner" ]] && rm -f -- "$c"
+        done
+        [[ $donetar -gt 0 && $fname != "$winner" ]] && rm -f -- "$fname"
+
+        [[ ${#compforms[@]} -gt 1 ]] &&
+            disp I "\t Kept smallest archive: ${winner} ($(_taz_human "$winner_size"))."
+
         if [[ $willrm ]]; then
             disp I "\t Deleting original source as asked... "
             rm -r "$item"
         fi
     done
-    unset quiet
 }
 export -f taz
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------