diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index c6028c586a..d06e1779ca 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -900,9 +900,7 @@ release: dist-with-updated-version all
 	    echo "failed to produced Guix VM image for $$system" >&2 ;			\
 	    exit 1 ;									\
 	  fi ;										\
-	  xz < "$$image" > "$(releasedir)/$(GUIX_SYSTEM_VM_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.qcow2.xz.tmp" ;	\
-	  mv "$(releasedir)/$(GUIX_SYSTEM_VM_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.qcow2.xz.tmp"			\
-	     "$(releasedir)/$(GUIX_SYSTEM_VM_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.qcow2.xz" ;			\
+	  cp "$$image" "$(releasedir)/$(GUIX_SYSTEM_VM_IMAGE_BASE).$$system.qcow2";	\
 	done
 	@echo
 	@echo "Congratulations!  All the release files are now in $(releasedir)."
diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index 7f54ddfb3c..9beef61c94 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -33491,7 +33491,7 @@ Whether or not the droplet should be created with IPv6 networking.
 @cindex virtual machine
 To run Guix in a virtual machine (VM), one can use the pre-built Guix VM image
 distributed at
-@url{@value{BASE-URL}/guix-system-vm-image-@value{VERSION}.x86_64-linux.qcow2.xz}.
+@url{@value{BASE-URL}/guix-system-vm-image-@value{VERSION}.x86_64-linux.qcow2}.
 This image is a compressed image in QCOW format.  You will first need to
 decompress with @command{xz -d}, and then you can pass it to an emulator such
 as QEMU (see below for details).