diff --git a/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/assembly/AbstractUnpackingMojo.java b/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/assembly/AbstractUnpackingMojo.java
index 1c4d8197e2..b64e0428fa 100644
--- a/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/assembly/AbstractUnpackingMojo.java
+++ b/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/assembly/AbstractUnpackingMojo.java
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ package org.apache.maven.plugin.assembly;
 
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.AbstractMojo;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
-import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoFailureException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ArchiverException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.UnArchiver;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.manager.ArchiverManager;
@@ -90,25 +89,16 @@ public abstract class AbstractUnpackingMojo
      */
 
     protected void unpack( File file, File location )
-        throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException
+        throws MojoExecutionException, NoSuchArchiverException
     {
         String archiveExt = FileUtils.getExtension( file.getAbsolutePath() ).toLowerCase();
 
-        this.getLog().info( "Look up archiver type: " + archiveExt );
-
-        UnArchiver unArchiver;
-
         try
         {
+            UnArchiver unArchiver;
+
             unArchiver = this.archiverManager.getUnArchiver( archiveExt );
-        }
-        catch ( NoSuchArchiverException e )
-        {
-            throw new MojoFailureException( "Unable to obtain unarchiver for extension '" + archiveExt + "'" );
-        }
 
-        try
-        {
             unArchiver.setSourceFile( file );
 
             unArchiver.setDestDirectory( location );
diff --git a/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/assembly/AssemblyMojo.java b/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/assembly/AssemblyMojo.java
index d5a2a3a16f..506a0407d0 100755
--- a/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/assembly/AssemblyMojo.java
+++ b/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/assembly/AssemblyMojo.java
@@ -294,7 +294,15 @@ public class AssemblyMojo
 
                         if ( process )
                         {
-                            unpack( artifact.getFile(), tempLocation );
+                            try
+                            {
+                                unpack( artifact.getFile(), tempLocation );
+                            }
+                            catch ( NoSuchArchiverException e )
+                            {
+                                throw new MojoExecutionException(
+                                    "Unable to obtain unarchiver for file '" + artifact.getFile() + "'" );
+                            }
                         }
                         archiver.addDirectory( tempLocation, null,
                                                (String[]) getDefaultExcludes().toArray( EMPTY_STRING_ARRAY ) );
diff --git a/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/assembly/UnpackMojo.java b/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/assembly/UnpackMojo.java
index 0cad49a64d..b7d1368c07 100644
--- a/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/assembly/UnpackMojo.java
+++ b/maven-plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/assembly/UnpackMojo.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package org.apache.maven.plugin.assembly;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.Artifact;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoFailureException;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.manager.NoSuchArchiverException;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.util.Iterator;
@@ -62,9 +63,17 @@ public class UnpackMojo
             if ( process )
             {
                 File file = artifact.getFile();
-                unpack( file, tempLocation );
+                try
+                {
+                    unpack( file, tempLocation );
+                }
+                catch ( NoSuchArchiverException e )
+                {
+                    this.getLog().info( "Skip unpacking dependency file with unknown extension: " + file.getPath() );
+                }
             }
         }
     }
 
+
 }
\ No newline at end of file