diff --git a/tools/perf/util/lzma.c b/tools/perf/util/lzma.c
index 7032caaf75eb..b1dd29a9d915 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/lzma.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/lzma.c
@@ -3,9 +3,13 @@
 #include <lzma.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <linux/compiler.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
 #include "compress.h"
 #include "util.h"
 #include "debug.h"
+#include <unistd.h>
 
 #define BUFSIZE 8192
 
@@ -100,7 +104,18 @@ int lzma_decompress_to_file(const char *input, int output_fd)
 	return err;
 }
 
-bool lzma_is_compressed(const char *input __maybe_unused)
+bool lzma_is_compressed(const char *input)
 {
-	return true;
+	int fd = open(input, O_RDONLY);
+	const uint8_t magic[6] = { 0xFD, '7', 'z', 'X', 'Z', 0x00 };
+	char buf[6] = { 0 };
+	ssize_t rc;
+
+	if (fd < 0)
+		return -1;
+
+	rc = read(fd, buf, sizeof(buf));
+	close(fd);
+	return rc == sizeof(buf) ?
+	       memcmp(buf, magic, sizeof(buf)) == 0 : false;
 }