diff --git a/PC/dllbase_nt.txt b/PC/dllbase_nt.txt
index 8ba546f2bc7..1a4e6772539 100644
--- a/PC/dllbase_nt.txt
+++ b/PC/dllbase_nt.txt
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ More standard extensions 1D100000 - 1e000000
  - select                    1D110000 - 1D120000
  - unicodedata               1D120000 - 1D160000
  - winsound                  1D160000 - 1D170000
+ - bZ2                       1D170000 - 1D180000
 
 Other extension modules
  - win32api                  1e200000 - 1e220000
diff --git a/PCbuild/bz2.dsp b/PCbuild/bz2.dsp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..97f8f790ce8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/PCbuild/bz2.dsp
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+# Microsoft Developer Studio Project File - Name="bz2" - Package Owner=<4>
+# Microsoft Developer Studio Generated Build File, Format Version 6.00
+# ** DO NOT EDIT **
+
+# TARGTYPE "Win32 (x86) Dynamic-Link Library" 0x0102
+
+CFG=bz2 - Win32 Debug
+!MESSAGE This is not a valid makefile. To build this project using NMAKE,
+!MESSAGE use the Export Makefile command and run
+!MESSAGE 
+!MESSAGE NMAKE /f "bz2.mak".
+!MESSAGE 
+!MESSAGE You can specify a configuration when running NMAKE
+!MESSAGE by defining the macro CFG on the command line. For example:
+!MESSAGE 
+!MESSAGE NMAKE /f "bz2.mak" CFG="bz2 - Win32 Debug"
+!MESSAGE 
+!MESSAGE Possible choices for configuration are:
+!MESSAGE 
+!MESSAGE "bz2 - Win32 Release" (based on "Win32 (x86) Dynamic-Link Library")
+!MESSAGE "bz2 - Win32 Debug" (based on "Win32 (x86) Dynamic-Link Library")
+!MESSAGE 
+
+# Begin Project
+# PROP AllowPerConfigDependencies 0
+# PROP Scc_ProjName "bz2"
+# PROP Scc_LocalPath ".."
+CPP=cl.exe
+MTL=midl.exe
+RSC=rc.exe
+
+!IF  "$(CFG)" == "bz2 - Win32 Release"
+
+# PROP BASE Use_MFC 0
+# PROP BASE Use_Debug_Libraries 0
+# PROP BASE Output_Dir "Release"
+# PROP BASE Intermediate_Dir "Release"
+# PROP BASE Target_Dir ""
+# PROP Use_MFC 0
+# PROP Use_Debug_Libraries 0
+# PROP Output_Dir "."
+# PROP Intermediate_Dir "x86-temp-release\bz2"
+# PROP Ignore_Export_Lib 0
+# PROP Target_Dir ""
+F90=df.exe
+# ADD BASE CPP /nologo /MT /W3 /GX /O2 /D "WIN32" /D "NDEBUG" /D "_WINDOWS" /YX /FD /c
+# ADD CPP /nologo /MD /W3 /GX /Zi /O2 /I "..\Include" /I "..\PC" /I "..\..\bzip2-1.0.2" /D "NDEBUG" /D "WIN32" /D "_WINDOWS" /YX /FD /c
+# ADD BASE MTL /nologo /D "NDEBUG" /mktyplib203 /o "NUL" /win32
+# ADD MTL /nologo /D "NDEBUG" /mktyplib203 /o "NUL" /win32
+# ADD BASE RSC /l 0x409 /d "NDEBUG"
+# ADD RSC /l 0x409 /d "NDEBUG"
+BSC32=bscmake.exe
+# ADD BASE BSC32 /nologo
+# ADD BSC32 /nologo
+LINK32=link.exe
+# ADD BASE LINK32 kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib odbc32.lib odbccp32.lib /nologo /subsystem:windows /dll /machine:I386
+# ADD LINK32 ..\..\bzip2-1.0.2\libbz2.lib /nologo /base:"0x1D170000" /subsystem:windows /dll /debug /machine:I386 /nodefaultlib:"libc" /out:"./bz2.pyd"
+# SUBTRACT LINK32 /pdb:none /nodefaultlib
+
+!ELSEIF  "$(CFG)" == "bz2 - Win32 Debug"
+
+# PROP BASE Use_MFC 0
+# PROP BASE Use_Debug_Libraries 1
+# PROP BASE Output_Dir "Debug"
+# PROP BASE Intermediate_Dir "Debug"
+# PROP BASE Target_Dir ""
+# PROP Use_MFC 0
+# PROP Use_Debug_Libraries 1
+# PROP Output_Dir "."
+# PROP Intermediate_Dir "x86-temp-debug\bz2"
+# PROP Ignore_Export_Lib 0
+# PROP Target_Dir ""
+F90=df.exe
+# ADD BASE CPP /nologo /MTd /W3 /Gm /GX /Zi /Od /D "WIN32" /D "_DEBUG" /D "_WINDOWS" /YX /FD /c
+# ADD CPP /nologo /MDd /W3 /Gm /GX /Zi /Od /I "..\Include" /I "..\PC" /I "..\..\bzip2-1.0.2" /D "_DEBUG" /D "WIN32" /D "_WINDOWS" /YX /FD /c
+# ADD BASE MTL /nologo /D "_DEBUG" /mktyplib203 /o "NUL" /win32
+# ADD MTL /nologo /D "_DEBUG" /mktyplib203 /o "NUL" /win32
+# ADD BASE RSC /l 0x409 /d "_DEBUG"
+# ADD RSC /l 0x409 /d "_DEBUG"
+BSC32=bscmake.exe
+# ADD BASE BSC32 /nologo
+# ADD BSC32 /nologo
+LINK32=link.exe
+# ADD BASE LINK32 kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib odbc32.lib odbccp32.lib /nologo /subsystem:windows /dll /debug /machine:I386 /pdbtype:sept
+# ADD LINK32 ..\..\bzip2-1.0.2\libbz2.lib /nologo /base:"0x1D170000" /subsystem:windows /dll /debug /machine:I386 /nodefaultlib:"msvcrt" /nodefaultlib:"libc" /out:"./bz2_d.pyd" /pdbtype:sept
+# SUBTRACT LINK32 /pdb:none
+
+!ENDIF 
+
+# Begin Target
+
+# Name "bz2 - Win32 Release"
+# Name "bz2 - Win32 Debug"
+# Begin Source File
+
+SOURCE=..\Modules\bz2module.c
+# End Source File
+# End Target
+# End Project
diff --git a/PCbuild/pcbuild.dsw b/PCbuild/pcbuild.dsw
index e09a2530cd0..1d16d0825e8 100644
--- a/PCbuild/pcbuild.dsw
+++ b/PCbuild/pcbuild.dsw
@@ -93,6 +93,18 @@ Package=<4>
 
 ###############################################################################
 
+Project: "bz2"=.\bz2.dsp - Package Owner=<4>
+
+Package=<5>
+{{{
+}}}
+
+Package=<4>
+{{{
+}}}
+
+###############################################################################
+
 Project: "mmap"=.\mmap.dsp - Package Owner=<4>
 
 Package=<5>
diff --git a/PCbuild/readme.txt b/PCbuild/readme.txt
index 0109317cd9f..5073a413b2c 100644
--- a/PCbuild/readme.txt
+++ b/PCbuild/readme.txt
@@ -88,6 +88,34 @@ zlib
     zlib-1.1.4\ when you do a clean, so if you want to rebuild zlib.lib
     you need to clean up zlib-1.1.4\ by hand.
 
+bz2
+    Python wrapper for the libbz2 compression library.  Homepage
+        http://sources.redhat.com/bzip2/
+    Download the source tarball, bzip2-1.0.2.tar.gz.
+    Unpack into dist\bzip2-1.0.2.  WARNING:  If you using WinZip, you
+    must disable its "TAR file smart CR/LF conversion" feature (under
+    Options -> Configuration -> Miscellaneous -> Other) for the duration.
+    Don't bother trying to use libbz2.dsp with MSVC.  After 10 minutes
+    of fiddling, I couldn't get it to work.  Perhaps it works with
+    MSVC 5 (I used MSVC 6).  It's better to run the by-hand makefile
+    anyway, because it runs a  helpful test step at the end.
+    cd into dist\bzip2-1.0.2, and run
+        nmake -f makefile.msc
+    [Note that if you're running Win9X, you'll need to run vcvars32.bat
+     before running nmake (this batch file is in your MSVC installation).
+     TODO:  make this work like zlib (in particular, MSVC runs the prelink
+     step in an enviroment that already has the correct envars set up).
+    ]
+    The make step should yield any warnings or errors, and should end
+    by displaying 6 blocks each terminated with
+        FC: no differences encountered
+    If FC finds differences, see the warning abou WinZip above (when I
+    first tried it, sample3.ref failed due to CRLF conversion).
+    All of this managed to build bzip2-1.0.2\libbz2.lib, which the Python
+    project links in.
+
+
+
 bsddb
     Python wrapper for the BSD database 1.85.  Requires db.1.85.win32.zip,
     from the "bsd db" link at