diff --git a/packages/cache/__tests__/tar.test.ts b/packages/cache/__tests__/tar.test.ts
index 4145d9a946..7da098ea6c 100644
--- a/packages/cache/__tests__/tar.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cache/__tests__/tar.test.ts
@@ -134,6 +134,69 @@ test('zstd extract tar with windows BSDtar', async () => {
   }
 })
 
+test('zstd extract tar prefers BSDtar when opt-in env var set', async () => {
+  if (IS_WINDOWS) {
+    const mkdirMock = jest.spyOn(io, 'mkdirP')
+    const execMock = jest.spyOn(exec, 'exec')
+    const previousPreferBsdTar =
+      process.env['ACTIONS_CACHE_PREFER_BSD_TAR_ON_WINDOWS']
+    // GNU tar still available — without the env var this would take the GNU path.
+    jest
+      .spyOn(utils, 'getGnuTarPathOnWindows')
+      .mockReturnValue(Promise.resolve(GnuTarPathOnWindows))
+    process.env['ACTIONS_CACHE_PREFER_BSD_TAR_ON_WINDOWS'] = 'true'
+
+    try {
+      const archivePath = `${process.env['windir']}\\fakepath\\cache.tar`
+      const workspace = process.env['GITHUB_WORKSPACE']
+      const tarPath = SystemTarPathOnWindows
+
+      await tar.extractTar(archivePath, CompressionMethod.Zstd)
+
+      expect(mkdirMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(workspace)
+      expect(execMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2)
+
+      expect(execMock).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(
+        1,
+        [
+          'zstd -d --long=30 --force -o',
+          TarFilename.replace(new RegExp(`\\${path.sep}`, 'g'), '/'),
+          archivePath.replace(new RegExp(`\\${path.sep}`, 'g'), '/')
+        ].join(' '),
+        undefined,
+        {
+          cwd: undefined,
+          env: expect.objectContaining(defaultEnv)
+        }
+      )
+
+      expect(execMock).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(
+        2,
+        [
+          `"${tarPath}"`,
+          '-xf',
+          TarFilename.replace(new RegExp(`\\${path.sep}`, 'g'), '/'),
+          '-P',
+          '-C',
+          workspace?.replace(/\\/g, '/')
+        ].join(' '),
+        undefined,
+        {
+          cwd: undefined,
+          env: expect.objectContaining(defaultEnv)
+        }
+      )
+    } finally {
+      if (previousPreferBsdTar === undefined) {
+        delete process.env['ACTIONS_CACHE_PREFER_BSD_TAR_ON_WINDOWS']
+      } else {
+        process.env['ACTIONS_CACHE_PREFER_BSD_TAR_ON_WINDOWS'] =
+          previousPreferBsdTar
+      }
+    }
+  }
+})
+
 test('gzip extract tar', async () => {
   const mkdirMock = jest.spyOn(io, 'mkdirP')
   const execMock = jest.spyOn(exec, 'exec')
diff --git a/packages/cache/src/internal/tar.ts b/packages/cache/src/internal/tar.ts
index 73c126c7c2..8e03c92c0d 100644
--- a/packages/cache/src/internal/tar.ts
+++ b/packages/cache/src/internal/tar.ts
@@ -18,8 +18,19 @@ const IS_WINDOWS = process.platform === 'win32'
 async function getTarPath(): Promise<ArchiveTool> {
   switch (process.platform) {
     case 'win32': {
-      const gnuTar = await utils.getGnuTarPathOnWindows()
       const systemTar = SystemTarPathOnWindows
+      // Opt-in: prefer BSD tar (libarchive, shipped as
+      // C:\Windows\System32\tar.exe on Windows 10+). Benchmarks on hosted
+      // runners show ~4x faster extract on many-small-files payloads
+      // compared to Git for Windows' MSYS GNU tar, likely due to native
+      // Win32/libarchive behavior and lower MSYS process/path translation
+      // overhead. See actions/cache#752 for context.
+      const preferBsdTar =
+        process.env['ACTIONS_CACHE_PREFER_BSD_TAR_ON_WINDOWS'] === 'true'
+      if (preferBsdTar && existsSync(systemTar)) {
+        return <ArchiveTool>{path: systemTar, type: ArchiveToolType.BSD}
+      }
+      const gnuTar = await utils.getGnuTarPathOnWindows()
       if (gnuTar) {
         // Use GNUtar as default on windows
         return <ArchiveTool>{path: gnuTar, type: ArchiveToolType.GNU}