diff --git a/meta-selftest/recipes-test/multiconfig/multiconfig-image-packager_0.1.bb b/meta-selftest/recipes-test/multiconfig/multiconfig-image-packager_0.1.bb
index d7785cee2e..f6cf0a47c8 100644
--- a/meta-selftest/recipes-test/multiconfig/multiconfig-image-packager_0.1.bb
+++ b/meta-selftest/recipes-test/multiconfig/multiconfig-image-packager_0.1.bb
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://${COREBASE}/meta/COPYING.MIT;md5=3da9cfbcb788c80a0384
 
 MCMACHINE:virtclass-mcextend-musl = "qemux86-64"
 MCMACHINE:virtclass-mcextend-tiny = "qemux86"
-MCIMGTYPE:virtclass-mcextend-musl = "ext4"
+MCIMGTYPE:virtclass-mcextend-musl = "ext4.zst"
 MCIMGTYPE:virtclass-mcextend-tiny = "cpio.gz"
 
 MC_DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE = "${TOPDIR}/tmp-mc-${MCNAME}/deploy/images/${MCMACHINE}"
diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/qemuboot.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/qemuboot.bbclass
index 0f80c60ab5..69cd12ec54 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/qemuboot.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/qemuboot.bbclass
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ QB_MEM ?= "-m 256"
 QB_SMP ?= ""
 QB_SERIAL_OPT ?= "-serial mon:stdio -serial null"
 QB_DEFAULT_KERNEL ?= "${@bb.utils.contains("INITRAMFS_IMAGE_BUNDLE", "1", "${KERNEL_IMAGETYPE}-${INITRAMFS_LINK_NAME}.bin", "${KERNEL_IMAGETYPE}", d)}"
-QB_DEFAULT_FSTYPE ?= "ext4"
+QB_DEFAULT_FSTYPE ?= "ext4.zst"
 QB_RNG ?= "-object rng-random,filename=/dev/urandom,id=rng0 -device virtio-rng-pci,rng=rng0"
 QB_OPT_APPEND ?= ""
 QB_NETWORK_DEVICE ?= "-device virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0,mac=@MAC@"
diff --git a/meta/conf/bitbake.conf b/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
index fb26e72669..fad397776e 100644
--- a/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
+++ b/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
@@ -839,8 +839,8 @@ include conf/bblock.conf
 
 DL_DIR ?= "${TOPDIR}/downloads"
 SSTATE_DIR ?= "${TOPDIR}/sstate-cache"
-IMAGE_FSTYPES ?= "tar.gz"
-IMAGE_FSTYPES_DEBUGFS ?= "tar.gz"
+IMAGE_FSTYPES ?= "tar.zst"
+IMAGE_FSTYPES_DEBUGFS ?= "tar.zst"
 
 INITRAMFS_FSTYPES ?= "cpio.gz"
 # The maximum size in Kbytes for the generated initramfs image size.
diff --git a/meta/conf/machine/include/qemu.inc b/meta/conf/machine/include/qemu.inc
index c143e37f71..79016ad9cc 100644
--- a/meta/conf/machine/include/qemu.inc
+++ b/meta/conf/machine/include/qemu.inc
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ MACHINE_FEATURES = "alsa bluetooth usbgadget screen vfat"
 
 MACHINEOVERRIDES =. "qemuall:"
 
-IMAGE_FSTYPES += "tar.bz2 ext4"
+IMAGE_FSTYPES += "tar.zst ext4.zst"
 
 # Don't include kernels in standard images
 RDEPENDS:${KERNEL_PACKAGE_NAME}-base = ""
diff --git a/meta/conf/machine/include/riscv/qemuriscv.inc b/meta/conf/machine/include/riscv/qemuriscv.inc
index 65cbfd66ee..3596127202 100644
--- a/meta/conf/machine/include/riscv/qemuriscv.inc
+++ b/meta/conf/machine/include/riscv/qemuriscv.inc
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ KEEPUIMAGE = "no"
 
 SERIAL_CONSOLES ?= "115200;ttyS0 115200;hvc0"
 
-IMAGE_FSTYPES += "ext4 wic.qcow2"
+IMAGE_FSTYPES += "ext4.zst wic.qcow2"
 
 WKS_FILE ?= "qemuriscv.wks"
 
diff --git a/meta/conf/machine/include/x86/x86-base.inc b/meta/conf/machine/include/x86/x86-base.inc
index fc6c39148d..fc8200d8f0 100644
--- a/meta/conf/machine/include/x86/x86-base.inc
+++ b/meta/conf/machine/include/x86/x86-base.inc
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 MACHINE_FEATURES += "screen keyboard pci usbhost ext2 ext3 x86 \
                      acpi serial usbgadget alsa"
 
-IMAGE_FSTYPES ?= "wic"
+IMAGE_FSTYPES ?= "wic.zst"
 
 KERNEL_IMAGETYPE ?= "bzImage"
 
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/gdbserver.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/gdbserver.py
index b6b7c5c473..1c71333190 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/gdbserver.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/gdbserver.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ class GdbServerTest(OESelftestTestCase):
 
         features = """
 IMAGE_GEN_DEBUGFS = "1"
+IMAGE_FSTYPES += "tar.bz2"
 IMAGE_FSTYPES_DEBUGFS = "tar.bz2"
 CORE_IMAGE_EXTRA_INSTALL = "gdbserver"
         """
diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/runqemu.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/runqemu.py
index 74d47a6db1..7ed89e80de 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/runqemu.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/runqemu.py
@@ -195,6 +195,12 @@ class QemuTest(OESelftestTestCase):
         cls.cmd_common = "runqemu nographic snapshot"
         cls.qemuboot_conf = "%s.qemuboot.conf" % (cls.image_link_name)
         cls.qemuboot_conf = os.path.join(cls.deploy_dir_image, cls.qemuboot_conf)
+
+        cls.write_config(cls,
+"""
+IMAGE_FSTYPES += "tar.bz2"
+""")
+
         bitbake(cls.recipe)
 
     def _start_qemu_shutdown_check_if_shutdown_succeeded(self, qemu, timeout):