diff --git a/Makefile.work b/Makefile.work
index 4c73dbfc88..d751f18fce 100644
--- a/Makefile.work
+++ b/Makefile.work
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@
 #  * ENABLE_BOOTCHART: Enable SONiC bootchart
 #  *                 Default: n
 #  *                 Values: y,n
+#  * GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM: Select pigz to reduce build time
+#  *                 Default: gzip
+#  *                 Values: pigz,gzip
 #
 ###############################################################################
 
@@ -140,6 +143,10 @@ ifeq ($(ENABLE_DOCKER_BASE_PULL),)
 	override ENABLE_DOCKER_BASE_PULL = n
 endif
 
+ifneq ($(GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM), pigz)
+override GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM = gzip
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(CONFIGURED_ARCH),amd64)
 SLAVE_BASE_IMAGE = $(SLAVE_DIR)
 MULTIARCH_QEMU_ENVIRON = n
@@ -200,6 +207,7 @@ $(shell CONFIGURED_ARCH=$(CONFIGURED_ARCH) \
 	ENABLE_FIPS_FEATURE=$(ENABLE_FIPS_FEATURE) \
 	DOCKER_EXTRA_OPTS=$(DOCKER_EXTRA_OPTS) \
 	DEFAULT_CONTAINER_REGISTRY=$(DEFAULT_CONTAINER_REGISTRY) \
+	GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM=$(GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM) \
 	j2 $(SLAVE_DIR)/Dockerfile.j2 > $(SLAVE_DIR)/Dockerfile)
 
 $(shell CONFIGURED_ARCH=$(CONFIGURED_ARCH) \
@@ -525,6 +533,7 @@ SONIC_BUILD_INSTRUCTION :=  $(MAKE) \
                            SONIC_SLAVE_DOCKER_DRIVER=$(SONIC_SLAVE_DOCKER_DRIVER) \
                            MIRROR_URLS=$(MIRROR_URLS) \
                            MIRROR_SECURITY_URLS=$(MIRROR_SECURITY_URLS) \
+                           GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM=$(GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM) \
                            $(SONIC_OVERRIDE_BUILD_VARS)
 
 .PHONY: sonic-slave-build sonic-slave-bash init reset
diff --git a/build_debian.sh b/build_debian.sh
index f5fb7409f4..3668e62733 100755
--- a/build_debian.sh
+++ b/build_debian.sh
@@ -138,6 +138,12 @@ if [[ $CONFIGURED_ARCH == armhf || $CONFIGURED_ARCH == arm64 ]]; then
 else
     sudo LANG=C chroot $FILESYSTEM_ROOT /bin/bash -c 'cd /dev && MAKEDEV generic'
 fi
+
+## docker and mkinitramfs on target system will use pigz/unpigz automatically
+if [[ $GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM == pigz ]]; then
+    sudo LANG=C chroot $FILESYSTEM_ROOT apt-get -y install pigz
+fi
+
 ## Install initramfs-tools and linux kernel
 ## Note: initramfs-tools recommends depending on busybox, and we really want busybox for
 ## 1. commands such as touch
@@ -699,8 +705,8 @@ if [[ $MULTIARCH_QEMU_ENVIRON == y || $CROSS_BUILD_ENVIRON == y ]]; then
 fi
 
 ## Compress docker files
-pushd $FILESYSTEM_ROOT && sudo tar czf $OLDPWD/$FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS -C ${DOCKERFS_PATH}var/lib/docker .; popd
+pushd $FILESYSTEM_ROOT && sudo tar -I $GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM -cf $OLDPWD/$FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS -C ${DOCKERFS_PATH}var/lib/docker .; popd
 
 ## Compress together with /boot, /var/lib/docker and $PLATFORM_DIR as an installer payload zip file
-pushd $FILESYSTEM_ROOT && sudo tar czf platform.tar.gz -C $PLATFORM_DIR . && sudo zip -n .gz $OLDPWD/$ONIE_INSTALLER_PAYLOAD -r boot/ platform.tar.gz; popd
+pushd $FILESYSTEM_ROOT && sudo tar -I $GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM -cf platform.tar.gz -C $PLATFORM_DIR . && sudo zip -n .gz $OLDPWD/$ONIE_INSTALLER_PAYLOAD -r boot/ platform.tar.gz; popd
 sudo zip -g -n .squashfs:.gz $ONIE_INSTALLER_PAYLOAD $FILESYSTEM_SQUASHFS $FILESYSTEM_DOCKERFS
diff --git a/build_docker.sh b/build_docker.sh
index ec07698d66..9ada37d39b 100755
--- a/build_docker.sh
+++ b/build_docker.sh
@@ -101,7 +101,8 @@ fi
 
 ## Save the docker image in a gz file
 mkdir -p target
-docker save $docker_image_name | gzip -c > target/$docker_image_name.gz
+command -v pigz > /dev/null && GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM=pigz || GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM=gzip
+docker save $docker_image_name | $GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM -c > target/$docker_image_name.gz
 
 if [ -n "$1" ]; then
     ./push_docker.sh target/$docker_image_name.gz $@ $docker_image_tag
diff --git a/build_image.sh b/build_image.sh
index ea276367eb..847689702f 100755
--- a/build_image.sh
+++ b/build_image.sh
@@ -56,10 +56,10 @@ generate_kvm_image()
         exit 1
     }
 
-    gzip $KVM_IMAGE_DISK
+    $GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM $KVM_IMAGE_DISK
 
     [ -r $KVM_IMAGE_DISK.gz ] || {
-        echo "Error : gzip $KVM_IMAGE_DISK failed!"
+        echo "Error : $GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM $KVM_IMAGE_DISK failed!"
         exit 1
     }
 
@@ -147,10 +147,10 @@ elif [ "$IMAGE_TYPE" = "raw" ]; then
         exit 1
     }
 
-    gzip $OUTPUT_RAW_IMAGE
+    $GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM $OUTPUT_RAW_IMAGE
 
     [ -r $OUTPUT_RAW_IMAGE.gz ] || {
-        echo "Error : gzip $OUTPUT_RAW_IMAGE failed!"
+        echo "Error : $GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM $OUTPUT_RAW_IMAGE failed!"
         exit 1
     }
 
diff --git a/rules/config b/rules/config
index 69a6cf0ddd..c72c572ab6 100644
--- a/rules/config
+++ b/rules/config
@@ -275,3 +275,7 @@ ENABLE_FIPS ?= n
 
 # SONIC_SLAVE_DOCKER_DRIVER - set the sonic slave docker storage driver
 SONIC_SLAVE_DOCKER_DRIVER ?= vfs
+
+# GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM - select pigz (a parallel implementation of gzip) to reduce a build time
+# and speed up a decompression of docker images on target system
+GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM ?= gzip
diff --git a/slave.mk b/slave.mk
index 3460a3e184..3a3381ff2d 100644
--- a/slave.mk
+++ b/slave.mk
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ export DOCKER_BASE_ARCH
 export CROSS_BUILD_ENVIRON
 export BLDENV
 export BUILD_WORKDIR
+export GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM
 
 ###############################################################################
 ## Utility rules
@@ -431,6 +432,7 @@ ifeq ($(CONFIGURED_PLATFORM),vs)
 $(info "BUILD_MULTIASIC_KVM"             : "$(BUILD_MULTIASIC_KVM)")
 endif
 $(info "CROSS_BUILD_ENVIRON"             : "$(CROSS_BUILD_ENVIRON)")
+$(info "GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM"             : "$(GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM)")
 $(info )
 else
 $(info SONiC Build System for $(CONFIGURED_PLATFORM):$(CONFIGURED_ARCH))
@@ -489,7 +491,7 @@ define docker-image-save
     @echo "Tagging docker image $(1)-$(DOCKER_USERNAME):$(DOCKER_USERTAG) as $(1):$(call docker-get-tag,$(1))" $(LOG)
     docker tag $(1)-$(DOCKER_USERNAME):$(DOCKER_USERTAG) $(1):$(call docker-get-tag,$(1)) $(LOG)
     @echo "Saving docker image $(1):$(call docker-get-tag,$(1))" $(LOG)
-        docker save $(1):$(call docker-get-tag,$(1)) | gzip -c > $(2)
+        docker save $(1):$(call docker-get-tag,$(1)) | $(GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM) -c > $(2)
     if [ x$(SONIC_CONFIG_USE_NATIVE_DOCKERD_FOR_BUILD) == x"y" ]; then
         @echo "Removing docker image $(1):$(call docker-get-tag,$(1))" $(LOG)
         docker rmi -f $(1):$(call docker-get-tag,$(1)) $(LOG)
diff --git a/sonic-slave-bullseye/Dockerfile.j2 b/sonic-slave-bullseye/Dockerfile.j2
index f4f24d847e..7141cfa4c6 100644
--- a/sonic-slave-bullseye/Dockerfile.j2
+++ b/sonic-slave-bullseye/Dockerfile.j2
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
         curl \
         wget \
         unzip \
+        {{ GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM }} \
         git \
         build-essential \
         libtool \
diff --git a/sonic-slave-buster/Dockerfile.j2 b/sonic-slave-buster/Dockerfile.j2
index 0c2ce405f2..35b0a9e843 100644
--- a/sonic-slave-buster/Dockerfile.j2
+++ b/sonic-slave-buster/Dockerfile.j2
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
         curl \
         wget \
         unzip \
+        {{ GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM }} \
         git \
         build-essential \
         libtool \
diff --git a/sonic-slave-stretch/Dockerfile.j2 b/sonic-slave-stretch/Dockerfile.j2
index 1397df1c73..641fa69c07 100644
--- a/sonic-slave-stretch/Dockerfile.j2
+++ b/sonic-slave-stretch/Dockerfile.j2
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
         curl \
         wget \
         unzip \
+        {{ GZ_COMPRESS_PROGRAM }} \
         git \
         build-essential \
         libtool \