diff --git a/lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/skills/main.py b/lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/skills/main.py
index 07ccef377..7e3b2cef2 100644
--- a/lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/skills/main.py
+++ b/lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/skills/main.py
@@ -233,8 +233,8 @@ class SkillCommand(BaseCommand, PlusAPIMixin):
             f"[bold blue]Publishing skill [bold]{name}[/bold] v{version} to {effective_org}...[/bold blue]"
         )
 
-        archive_bytes = self._build_skill_zip()
-        encoded_file = "data:application/zip;base64," + base64.b64encode(
+        archive_bytes = self._build_skill_tarball()
+        encoded_file = "data:application/x-gzip;base64," + base64.b64encode(
             archive_bytes
         ).decode("utf-8")
 
@@ -341,17 +341,17 @@ class SkillCommand(BaseCommand, PlusAPIMixin):
         with zipfile.ZipFile(io.BytesIO(archive_bytes)) as zf:
             _safe_extract_zip(zf, dest)
 
-    def _build_skill_zip(self) -> bytes:
-        """Build an in-memory ZIP of SKILL.md + scripts/ + references/ + assets/."""
+    def _build_skill_tarball(self) -> bytes:
+        """Build an in-memory .tar.gz of SKILL.md + scripts/ + references/ + assets/."""
         buf = io.BytesIO()
-        with zipfile.ZipFile(buf, "w", zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) as zf:
-            zf.write("SKILL.md")
+        with tarfile.open(fileobj=buf, mode="w:gz") as tf:
+            tf.add("SKILL.md")
             for folder in ("scripts", "references", "assets"):
                 folder_path = Path(folder)
                 if folder_path.is_dir():
                     for fpath in sorted(folder_path.rglob("*")):
                         if fpath.is_file():
-                            zf.write(fpath)
+                            tf.add(str(fpath))
         return buf.getvalue()
 
     def _parse_frontmatter(self, content: str) -> dict[str, str]:
diff --git a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/skills/cache.py b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/skills/cache.py
index d2cc6fe9a..ef0f25201 100644
--- a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/skills/cache.py
+++ b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/skills/cache.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import logging
 from pathlib import Path
 import tarfile
 from typing import TypedDict
+import zipfile
 
 
 _logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -71,12 +72,16 @@ class SkillCacheManager:
 
         import io
 
-        with tarfile.open(fileobj=io.BytesIO(archive_bytes), mode="r:gz") as tf:
-            try:
-                tf.extractall(skill_dir, filter="data")
-            except TypeError:
-                # Python < 3.12 doesn't support filter= keyword; fall back safely
-                _safe_extractall(tf, skill_dir)
+        # Try tar.gz first, fall back to zip
+        try:
+            with tarfile.open(fileobj=io.BytesIO(archive_bytes), mode="r:gz") as tf:
+                try:
+                    tf.extractall(skill_dir, filter="data")
+                except TypeError:
+                    _safe_extractall(tf, skill_dir)
+        except tarfile.TarError:
+            with zipfile.ZipFile(io.BytesIO(archive_bytes)) as zf:
+                _safe_extract_zip(zf, skill_dir)
 
         meta: SkillMetadata = {
             "org": org,
@@ -131,3 +136,13 @@ def _safe_extractall(tf: tarfile.TarFile, dest: Path) -> None:
         if not member_path.is_relative_to(dest_resolved):
             raise ValueError(f"Blocked path traversal attempt: {member.name!r}")
     tf.extractall(dest)  # noqa: S202
+
+
+def _safe_extract_zip(zf: zipfile.ZipFile, dest: Path) -> None:
+    """Path-traversal-safe ZIP extraction."""
+    dest_resolved = dest.resolve()
+    for member in zf.namelist():
+        member_path = (dest / member).resolve()
+        if not member_path.is_relative_to(dest_resolved):
+            raise ValueError(f"Blocked path traversal attempt: {member!r}")
+    zf.extractall(dest)  # noqa: S202