diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index 34f5d2cd01d16e139b959cd4812e73e849aabbf4..58ca9631cb96e61c3ed82f16435e86ae03a082b6 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -15,3 +15,4 @@ conda_env_files: []
 # Name of the conda environment to activate by default
 # If left empty no conda env is activated
 conda_default_env: ""
+conda_use_only_tar_bz2: false
diff --git a/molecule/default/tests/test_conda.py b/molecule/default/tests/test_conda.py
index de0830c9a6a39349a920cb9033b1c61590f59043..7966486b5173da044d62fd73bf30db4159b87e75 100644
--- a/molecule/default/tests/test_conda.py
+++ b/molecule/default/tests/test_conda.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ channels:
   - conda-forge
 default_channels: []
 auto_update_conda: False
-use_only_tar_bz2: True"""
+use_only_tar_bz2: False"""
         )
     else:
         assert (
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ channels:
   - conda-forge
 default_channels: []
 auto_update_conda: False
-use_only_tar_bz2: True"""
+use_only_tar_bz2: False"""
         )
 
 
diff --git a/templates/system_condarc.j2 b/templates/system_condarc.j2
index 65e6fdc5227b5a3dab48f03998b7a17ae56f6fc6..6bd9dc54cfe93b25cb7c442b84eb61515b8fe446 100644
--- a/templates/system_condarc.j2
+++ b/templates/system_condarc.j2
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@ channels:
 {% endfor %}
 default_channels: []
 auto_update_conda: False
-use_only_tar_bz2: True
+use_only_tar_bz2: {{ conda_use_only_tar_bz2 | string }}