diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 763d25f..4174475 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -10,3 +10,6 @@
 # template.tex output
 # move to *.pdf once manual is done
 template.pdf
+
+# release tarballs
+moderncv-*.tar.gz
diff --git a/create-release-tarball.sh b/create-release-tarball.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..b46b7cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/create-release-tarball.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# script to create a tarball for the files that should be in the CTAN upload
+
+# fetch version via git
+VERSION=$(git describe --tags --dirty)
+TARBALL=moderncv-$VERSION.tar
+
+# remove existing tarballs
+rm -f $TARBALL $TARBALL.gz
+
+# create tar with all files in git repo
+git archive HEAD > $TARBALL
+
+# remove git specific files
+tar -f $TARBALL --delete .github/ .gitignore create-release-tarball.sh
+
+# compress
+gzip $TARBALL