diff --git a/packages/artifact/src/internal/shared/config.ts b/packages/artifact/src/internal/shared/config.ts
index 8d8a1668..73a9fcc5 100644
--- a/packages/artifact/src/internal/shared/config.ts
+++ b/packages/artifact/src/internal/shared/config.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import os from 'os'
+
 // Used for controlling the highWaterMark value of the zip that is being streamed
 // The same value is used as the chunk size that is use during upload to blob storage
 export function getUploadChunkSize(): number {
@@ -34,3 +36,17 @@ export function getGitHubWorkspaceDir(): string {
   }
   return ghWorkspaceDir
 }
+
+// Mimics behavior of azcopy: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-use-azcopy-optimize
+// If your machine has fewer than 5 CPUs, then the value of this variable is set to 32.
+// Otherwise, the default value is equal to 16 multiplied by the number of CPUs. The maximum value of this variable is 300.
+export function getConcurrency() {
+  const numCPUs = os.cpus().length
+
+  if (numCPUs <= 4) {
+    return 32
+  }
+
+  const concurrency = 16 * numCPUs
+  return concurrency > 300 ? 300 : concurrency
+}
diff --git a/packages/artifact/src/internal/shared/interfaces.ts b/packages/artifact/src/internal/shared/interfaces.ts
index 7e3e862f..b160d1be 100644
--- a/packages/artifact/src/internal/shared/interfaces.ts
+++ b/packages/artifact/src/internal/shared/interfaces.ts
@@ -38,6 +38,17 @@ export interface UploadOptions {
    * input of 0 assumes default retention setting.
    */
   retentionDays?: number
+  /**
+   * The level of compression for Zlib to be applied to the artifact archive.
+   * The value can range from 0 to 9:
+   * - 0: No compression
+   * - 1: Best speed
+   * - 6: Default compression (same as GNU Gzip)
+   * - 9: Best compression
+   * Higher levels will result in better compression, but will take longer to complete.
+   * For large files that are not easily compressed, a value of 0 is recommended for significantly faster uploads.
+   */
+  compressionLevel?: number
 }
 
 /*****************************************************************************
diff --git a/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/blob-upload.ts b/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/blob-upload.ts
index 2bed1f39..cb7a11b7 100644
--- a/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/blob-upload.ts
+++ b/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/blob-upload.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import {BlobClient, BlockBlobUploadStreamOptions} from '@azure/storage-blob'
 import {TransferProgressEvent} from '@azure/core-http'
 import {ZipUploadStream} from './zip'
-import {getUploadChunkSize} from '../shared/config'
+import {getUploadChunkSize, getConcurrency} from '../shared/config'
 import * as core from '@actions/core'
 import * as crypto from 'crypto'
 import * as stream from 'stream'
@@ -29,13 +29,13 @@ export async function uploadZipToBlobStorage(
 ): Promise<BlobUploadResponse> {
   let uploadByteCount = 0
 
-  const maxBuffers = 5
+  const maxConcurrency = getConcurrency()
   const bufferSize = getUploadChunkSize()
   const blobClient = new BlobClient(authenticatedUploadURL)
   const blockBlobClient = blobClient.getBlockBlobClient()
 
   core.debug(
-    `Uploading artifact zip to blob storage with maxBuffers: ${maxBuffers}, bufferSize: ${bufferSize}`
+    `Uploading artifact zip to blob storage with maxConcurrency: ${maxConcurrency}, bufferSize: ${bufferSize}`
   )
 
   const uploadCallback = (progress: TransferProgressEvent): void => {
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ export async function uploadZipToBlobStorage(
     await blockBlobClient.uploadStream(
       uploadStream,
       bufferSize,
-      maxBuffers,
+      maxConcurrency,
       options
     )
 
diff --git a/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/upload-artifact.ts b/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/upload-artifact.ts
index ced05568..f2547516 100644
--- a/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/upload-artifact.ts
+++ b/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/upload-artifact.ts
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ export async function uploadArtifact(
     }
   }
 
-  const zipUploadStream = await createZipUploadStream(zipSpecification)
+  const zipUploadStream = await createZipUploadStream(zipSpecification, options?.compressionLevel)
 
   // get the IDs needed for the artifact creation
   const backendIds = getBackendIdsFromToken()
diff --git a/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/zip.ts b/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/zip.ts
index 81a12343..d8a5e5b7 100644
--- a/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/zip.ts
+++ b/packages/artifact/src/internal/upload/zip.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import {createReadStream} from 'fs'
 import {UploadZipSpecification} from './upload-zip-specification'
 import {getUploadChunkSize} from '../shared/config'
 
+export const DEFAULT_COMPRESSION_LEVEL = 6
+
 // Custom stream transformer so we can set the highWaterMark property
 // See https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/8855
 export class ZipUploadStream extends stream.Transform {
@@ -21,14 +23,12 @@ export class ZipUploadStream extends stream.Transform {
 }
 
 export async function createZipUploadStream(
-  uploadSpecification: UploadZipSpecification[]
+  uploadSpecification: UploadZipSpecification[],
+  compressionLevel: number = DEFAULT_COMPRESSION_LEVEL
 ): Promise<ZipUploadStream> {
   const zip = archiver.create('zip', {
-    zlib: {level: 9} // Sets the compression level.
-    // Available options are 0-9
-    // 0 => no compression
-    // 1 => fastest with low compression
-    // 9 => highest compression ratio but the slowest
+    highWaterMark: getUploadChunkSize(),
+    zlib: {level: compressionLevel}
   })
 
   // register callbacks for various events during the zip lifecycle