diff --git a/lib/core.js b/lib/core.js
index f7424885..4ae98d63 100644
--- a/lib/core.js
+++ b/lib/core.js
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ var Archiver = function(format, options) {
   this._module = false;
   this._pending = 0;
   this._pointer = 0;
+  this._followSymlinks = options.followSymlinks;
 
   this._entriesCount = 0;
   this._entriesProcessedCount = 0;
@@ -91,12 +92,13 @@ Archiver.prototype._abort = function() {
  * @param  {EntryData} data The entry data.
  * @return void
  */
-Archiver.prototype._append = function(filepath, data) {
+Archiver.prototype._append = function(filepath, data, recursive) {
   data = data || {};
 
   var task = {
     source: null,
-    filepath: filepath
+    filepath: filepath,
+    recursive: recursive || false
   };
 
   if (!data.name) {
@@ -439,7 +441,34 @@ Archiver.prototype._onStatQueueTask = function(task, callback) {
       this._queue.push(task);
     }
 
-    setImmediate(callback);
+    if (task.recursive && task.data.type === 'directory') {
+      fs.readdir(task.filepath, function(err, files) {
+        if (this._state.aborted) {
+          setImmediate(callback);
+          return;
+        }
+
+        if (err) {
+          this.emit('warning', err);
+          setImmediate(callback);
+          return;
+        }
+
+        files.forEach(function(filename) {
+          if (filename === '.' || filename === '..') {
+            return;
+          }
+
+          this._append(path.join(task.filepath, filename), {
+            name: path.join(task.data.name, filename)
+          }, true);
+        }.bind(this));
+
+        setImmediate(callback);
+      }.bind(this));
+    } else {
+      setImmediate(callback);
+    }
   }.bind(this));
 };
 
@@ -493,10 +522,17 @@ Archiver.prototype._updateQueueTaskWithStats = function(task, stats) {
   } else if (stats.isSymbolicLink() && this._moduleSupports('symlink')) {
     var linkPath = fs.readlinkSync(task.filepath);
     var dirName = path.dirname(task.filepath);
-    task.data.type = 'symlink';
-    task.data.linkname = path.relative(dirName, path.resolve(dirName, linkPath));
-    task.data.sourceType = 'buffer';
-    task.source = Buffer.concat([]);
+
+    if (this._followSymlinks) {
+      task.filepath = path.resolve(dirName, linkPath);
+      task.recursive = true;
+      return this._updateQueueTaskWithStats(task, fs.lstatSync(task.filepath));
+    } else {
+      task.data.type = 'symlink';
+      task.data.linkname = path.relative(dirName, path.resolve(dirName, linkPath));
+      task.data.sourceType = 'buffer';
+      task.source = Buffer.concat([]);
+    }
   } else {
     if (stats.isDirectory()) {
       this.emit('warning', new ArchiverError('DIRECTORYNOTSUPPORTED', task.data));