diff --git a/awx/playbooks/action_plugins/project_archive.py b/awx/playbooks/action_plugins/project_archive.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..753650d12b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/awx/playbooks/action_plugins/project_archive.py
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
+
+__metaclass__ = type
+
+import zipfile
+import tarfile
+import os
+
+from ansible.plugins.action import ActionBase
+from ansible.utils.display import Display
+
+display = Display()
+
+
+class ActionModule(ActionBase):
+    def run(self, tmp=None, task_vars=None):
+        self._supports_check_mode = False
+
+        result = super(ActionModule, self).run(tmp, task_vars)
+
+        src = self._task.args.get("src")
+        proj_path = self._task.args.get("project_path")
+        force = self._task.args.get("force", False)
+
+        try:
+            archive = zipfile.ZipFile(src)
+            get_filenames = archive.namelist
+            get_members = archive.infolist
+        except zipfile.BadZipFile:
+            archive = tarfile.open(src)
+            get_filenames = archive.getnames
+            get_members = archive.getmembers
+        except tarfile.ReadError:
+            result["failed"] = True
+            result["msg"] = "{0} is not a valid archive".format(src)
+            return result
+
+        # Most well formed archives contain a single root directory, typically named
+        # project-name-1.0.0. The project contents should be inside that directory.
+        start_index = 0
+        root_contents = set(
+            [filename.split(os.path.sep)[0] for filename in get_filenames()]
+        )
+        if len(root_contents) == 1:
+            start_index = len(list(root_contents)[0]) + 1
+
+        for member in get_members():
+            try:
+                filename = member.filename
+            except AttributeError:
+                filename = member.name
+
+            # Skip the archive base directory
+            if not filename[start_index:]:
+                continue
+
+            dest = os.path.join(proj_path, filename[start_index:])
+
+            if not force and os.path.exists(dest):
+                continue
+
+            try:
+                is_dir = member.is_dir()
+            except AttributeError:
+                is_dir = member.isdir()
+
+            if is_dir:
+                os.makedirs(dest, exist_ok=True)
+            else:
+                try:
+                    member_f = archive.open(member)
+                except TypeError:
+                    member_f = tarfile.ExFileObject(archive, member)
+
+                with open(dest, "wb") as f:
+                    f.write(member_f.read())
+                    member_f.close()
+
+        archive.close()
+
+        result["changed"] = True
+        return result
diff --git a/awx/playbooks/library/project_archive.py b/awx/playbooks/library/project_archive.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4a046e354d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/awx/playbooks/library/project_archive.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+ANSIBLE_METADATA = {
+    "metadata_version": "1.0",
+    "status": ["stableinterface"],
+    "supported_by": "community",
+}
+
+
+DOCUMENTATION = """
+---
+module: project_archive
+short_description: unpack a project archive
+description:
+  - Unpacks an archive that contains a project, in order to support handling versioned
+    artifacts from (for example) GitHub Releases or Artifactory builds.
+  - Handles projects in the archive root, or in a single base directory of the archive.
+version_added: "2.9"
+options:
+  src:
+    description:
+    - The source archive of the project artifact
+    required: true
+  project_path:
+    description:
+    - Directory to write the project archive contents
+    required: true
+  force:
+    description:
+    - Files in the project_path will be overwritten by matching files in the archive
+    default: False
+
+author:
+    - "Philip Douglass" @philipsd6
+"""
+
+EXAMPLES = """
+- project_archive:
+    src: "{{ project_path }}/.archive/project.tar.gz"
+    project_path: "{{ project_path }}"
+    force: "{{ scm_clean }}"
+"""
diff --git a/awx/playbooks/project_update.yml b/awx/playbooks/project_update.yml
index 22478f9f0c..169273d628 100644
--- a/awx/playbooks/project_update.yml
+++ b/awx/playbooks/project_update.yml
@@ -102,61 +102,46 @@
         - update_insights
 
     - block:
-      - name: Ensure the project directory is present
-        file:
-          dest: "{{ project_path|quote }}"
-          state: directory
+        - name: Ensure the project archive directory is present
+          file:
+            dest: "{{ project_path|quote }}/.archive"
+            state: directory
 
-      - name: Get archive from url
-        get_url:
-          url: "{{ scm_url|quote }}"
-          dest: "{{ project_path|quote }}"
-          url_username: "{{ scm_username|default(omit) }}"
-          url_password: "{{ scm_password|default(omit) }}"
-          force_basic_auth: yes
-          force: "{{ scm_clean }}"
-        register: get_url_result
+        - name: Get archive from url
+          get_url:
+            url: "{{ scm_url|quote }}"
+            dest: "{{ project_path|quote }}/.archive/"
+            url_username: "{{ scm_username|default(omit) }}"
+            url_password: "{{ scm_password|default(omit) }}"
+            force_basic_auth: true
+          register: get_archive
 
-      - name: Unpack archive
-        unarchive:
-          src: "{{ get_url_result.dest }}"
-          dest: "{{ project_path|quote }}"
-          keep_newer: "{{ not scm_clean }}"
-          list_files: yes
-        register: unarchived
+        - name: Unpack archive
+          project_archive:
+            src: "{{ get_archive.dest }}"
+            project_path: "{{ project_path|quote }}"
+            force: "{{ scm_clean }}"
+          when: get_archive.changed or scm_clean
+          register: unarchived
 
-      - set_fact:
-          archive_root_dirs: "{{ archive_root_dirs |default([]) |union(item.split('/')[0:1]) }}"
-        loop: "{{ unarchived.files }}"
+        - name: Find previous archives
+          find:
+            paths: "{{ project_path|quote }}/.archive/"
+            excludes:
+              - "{{ get_archive.dest|basename }}"
+          when: unarchived.changed
+          register: previous_archive
 
-      - block:
-          - name: Delete unarchived single root directory
-            file:
-              dest: "{{ project_path|quote }}/{{ archive_root_dirs[0] }}"
-              state: absent
-
-          - name: Link single root directory to project directory
-            file:
-              src: "{{ project_path|quote }}"
-              dest: "{{ project_path|quote }}/{{ archive_root_dirs[0] }}"
-              state: link
-
-          - name: Unpack archive
-            unarchive:
-              src: "{{ get_url_result.dest }}"
-              dest: "{{ project_path|quote }}"
-              keep_newer: "{{ not scm_clean }}"
-
-          - name: Delete link
-            file:
-              dest: "{{ project_path|quote }}/{{ archive_root_dirs[0] }}"
-              state: absent
-        when: archive_root_dirs |length == 1
-
-      - name: Set scm_version to archive sha1 checksum
-        set_fact:
-          scm_version: "{{ get_url_result.checksum_src }}"
+        - name: Remove previous archives
+          file:
+            path: "{{ item.path }}"
+            state: absent
+          loop: "{{ previous_archive.files }}"
+          when: previous_archive.files|default([])
 
+        - name: Set scm_version to archive sha1 checksum
+          set_fact:
+            scm_version: "{{ get_archive.checksum_src }}"
       tags:
         - update_archive