diff --git a/satpy/etc/readers/avhrr_l1b_eps.yaml b/satpy/etc/readers/avhrr_l1b_eps.yaml
index fbb4b4ec18..6da619a2da 100644
--- a/satpy/etc/readers/avhrr_l1b_eps.yaml
+++ b/satpy/etc/readers/avhrr_l1b_eps.yaml
@@ -144,4 +144,5 @@ file_types:
         file_reader: !!python/name:satpy.readers.eps_l1b.EPSAVHRRFile
         file_patterns: [
                        'AVHR_xxx_1B_{platform_short_name}_{start_time:%Y%m%d%H%M%SZ}_{end_time:%Y%m%d%H%M%SZ}_{processing_mode}_{disposition_mode}_{creation_time:%Y%m%d%H%M%SZ}',
+                       'AVHR_xxx_1B_{platform_short_name}_{start_time:%Y%m%d%H%M%SZ}_{end_time:%Y%m%d%H%M%SZ}_{processing_mode}_{disposition_mode}_{creation_time:%Y%m%d%H%M%SZ}.bz2',
                        'AVHR_xxx_1B_{platform_short_name}_{start_time:%Y%m%d%H%M%SZ}_{end_time:%Y%m%d%H%M%SZ}_{processing_mode}_{disposition_mode}_{creation_time:%Y%m%d%H%M%SZ}.nat']
diff --git a/satpy/readers/eps_l1b.py b/satpy/readers/eps_l1b.py
index 9ba5dece43..f47a86490c 100644
--- a/satpy/readers/eps_l1b.py
+++ b/satpy/readers/eps_l1b.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 from satpy._compat import cached_property
 from satpy._config import get_config_path
 from satpy.readers.file_handlers import BaseFileHandler
+from satpy.readers.utils import unzip_context
 from satpy.readers.xmlformat import XMLFormat
 from satpy.utils import get_legacy_chunk_size
 
@@ -168,7 +169,8 @@ def __init__(self, filename, filename_info, filetype_info):
 
     def _read_all(self):
         logger.debug("Reading %s", self.filename)
-        self.sections, self.form = read_records(self.filename)
+        with unzip_context(self.filename) as fn:
+            self.sections, self.form = read_records(fn)
         self.scanlines = self["TOTAL_MDR"]
         if self.scanlines != len(self.sections[("mdr", 2)]):
             logger.warning("Number of declared records doesn't match number of scanlines in the file.")