diff --git a/initializr-generator/src/main/groovy/io/spring/initializr/metadata/Dependency.groovy b/initializr-generator/src/main/groovy/io/spring/initializr/metadata/Dependency.groovy
index 4b766e8d..7943eb75 100644
--- a/initializr-generator/src/main/groovy/io/spring/initializr/metadata/Dependency.groovy
+++ b/initializr-generator/src/main/groovy/io/spring/initializr/metadata/Dependency.groovy
@@ -61,6 +61,12 @@ class Dependency extends MetadataElement {
 	 */
 	String version
 
+	/**
+	 * The type, can be {@code null} to indicate that the default type
+	 * should be used (i.e. {@code jar}).
+	 */
+	String type
+
 	/**
 	 * Dependency mapping if an attribute of the dependency differs according to the
 	 * Spring Boot version. If no mapping matches, default attributes are used.
diff --git a/initializr-generator/src/main/resources/templates/starter-build.gradle b/initializr-generator/src/main/resources/templates/starter-build.gradle
index 4e0d2861..27b6c92e 100644
--- a/initializr-generator/src/main/resources/templates/starter-build.gradle
+++ b/initializr-generator/src/main/resources/templates/starter-build.gradle
@@ -40,13 +40,13 @@ repositories {
 }
 <% } %>
 dependencies {<% compileDependencies.each { %>
-	compile('${it.groupId}:${it.artifactId}${it.version ? ":$it.version" : ""}')<% } %><% if (language=='groovy') { %>
+	compile('${it.groupId}:${it.artifactId}${it.version ? ":$it.version" : ""}${it.type ? "@$it.type" : ""}')<% } %><% if (language=='groovy') { %>
 	compile('org.codehaus.groovy:groovy')<% } %><% if (language=='kotlin') { %>
 	compile("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib:\${kotlinVersion}")<% } %><% runtimeDependencies.each { %>
-	runtime('${it.groupId}:${it.artifactId}${it.version ? ":$it.version" : ""}')<% } %><% providedDependencies.each { %>
-	providedRuntime('${it.groupId}:${it.artifactId}${it.version ? ":$it.version" : ""}')<% } %>
+	runtime('${it.groupId}:${it.artifactId}${it.version ? ":$it.version" : ""}${it.type ? "@$it.type" : ""}')<% } %><% providedDependencies.each { %>
+	providedRuntime('${it.groupId}:${it.artifactId}${it.version ? ":$it.version" : ""}${it.type ? "@$it.type" : ""}')<% } %>
 	testCompile('org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test') <% testDependencies.each { %>
-	testCompile('${it.groupId}:${it.artifactId}${it.version ? ":$it.version" : ""}')<% } %>
+	testCompile('${it.groupId}:${it.artifactId}${it.version ? ":$it.version" : ""}${it.type ? "@$it.type" : ""}')<% } %>
 }
 <% if (boms) { %>
 dependencyManagement {
diff --git a/initializr-generator/src/main/resources/templates/starter-pom.xml b/initializr-generator/src/main/resources/templates/starter-pom.xml
index a901c6d7..9899d74c 100644
--- a/initializr-generator/src/main/resources/templates/starter-pom.xml
+++ b/initializr-generator/src/main/resources/templates/starter-pom.xml
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>${it.groupId}</groupId>
 			<artifactId>${it.artifactId}</artifactId><% if (it.version != null) { %>
-			<version>${it.version}</version><% } %>
+			<version>${it.version}</version><% } %><% if (it.type != null) { %>
+			<type>${it.type}</type><% } %>
 		</dependency><% } %><% if (language=='groovy') { %>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.codehaus.groovy</groupId>
@@ -44,13 +45,15 @@
 			<groupId>${it.groupId}</groupId>
 			<artifactId>${it.artifactId}</artifactId><% if (it.version != null) { %>
 			<version>${it.version}</version><% } %>
-			<scope>runtime</scope>
+			<scope>runtime</scope><% if (it.type != null) { %>
+			<type>${it.type}</type><% } %>
 		</dependency><% } %><% providedDependencies.each { %>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>${it.groupId}</groupId>
 			<artifactId>${it.artifactId}</artifactId><% if (it.version != null) { %>
 			<version>${it.version}</version><% } %>
-			<scope>provided</scope>
+			<scope>provided</scope><% if (it.type != null) { %>
+			<type>${it.type}</type><% } %>
 		</dependency><% } %>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
@@ -61,7 +64,8 @@
 			<groupId>${it.groupId}</groupId>
 			<artifactId>${it.artifactId}</artifactId><% if (it.version != null) { %>
 			<version>${it.version}</version><% } %>
-			<scope>test</scope>
+			<scope>test</scope><% if (it.type != null) { %>
+			<type>${it.type}</type><% } %>
 		</dependency><% } %>
 	</dependencies>
 	<% if (boms) { %>
diff --git a/initializr-generator/src/test/groovy/io/spring/initializr/generator/ProjectGeneratorTests.groovy b/initializr-generator/src/test/groovy/io/spring/initializr/generator/ProjectGeneratorTests.groovy
index 367ca2f0..1c11f778 100644
--- a/initializr-generator/src/test/groovy/io/spring/initializr/generator/ProjectGeneratorTests.groovy
+++ b/initializr-generator/src/test/groovy/io/spring/initializr/generator/ProjectGeneratorTests.groovy
@@ -75,6 +75,30 @@ class ProjectGeneratorTests extends AbstractProjectGeneratorTests {
 				.hasSpringBootStarterDependency('web')
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	void mavenPomWithTarDependency() {
+		def dependency = new Dependency(id: 'custom-artifact', groupId: 'org.foo', artifactId: 'custom-artifact', type: "tar.gz")
+		def metadata = InitializrMetadataTestBuilder.withDefaults()
+				.addDependencyGroup('test', dependency).build()
+		applyMetadata(metadata)
+
+		def request = createProjectRequest('custom-artifact')
+		generateMavenPom(request).hasDependency(dependency)
+				.hasDependenciesCount(2)
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void gradleBuildWithTarDependency() {
+		def dependency = new Dependency(id: 'custom-artifact', groupId: 'org.foo', artifactId: 'custom-artifact', type: "tar.gz")
+		def metadata = InitializrMetadataTestBuilder.withDefaults()
+				.addDependencyGroup('test', dependency).build()
+		applyMetadata(metadata)
+
+		def request = createProjectRequest('custom-artifact')
+		generateGradleBuild(request)
+				.contains("compile('org.foo:custom-artifact@tar.gz')")
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	void mavenPomWithWebFacet() {
 		def dependency = new Dependency(id: 'thymeleaf', groupId: 'org.foo', artifactId: 'thymeleaf')
diff --git a/initializr-generator/src/test/groovy/io/spring/initializr/test/generator/PomAssert.groovy b/initializr-generator/src/test/groovy/io/spring/initializr/test/generator/PomAssert.groovy
index 52bb447d..5d9fd8e6 100644
--- a/initializr-generator/src/test/groovy/io/spring/initializr/test/generator/PomAssert.groovy
+++ b/initializr-generator/src/test/groovy/io/spring/initializr/test/generator/PomAssert.groovy
@@ -146,6 +146,9 @@ class PomAssert {
 		if (expected.scope) {
 			assertEquals "Wrong scope for $dependency", expected.scope, dependency.scope
 		}
+		if (expected.type) {
+			assertEquals "Wrong type for $dependency", expected.type, dependency.type
+		}
 		this
 	}
 
@@ -238,6 +241,10 @@ class PomAssert {
 				if (scope.length > 0) {
 					dependency.scope = scope.item(0).textContent
 				}
+				def type = element.getElementsByTagName('type')
+				if (type.length > 0) {
+					dependency.type = type.item(0).textContent
+				}
 				def id = dependency.generateId()
 				assertFalse("Duplicate dependency with id $id", dependencies.containsKey(id))
 				dependencies[id] = dependency