diff --git a/lib/galaxy/util/streamball.py b/lib/galaxy/util/streamball.py
index 2125f9bf424..acf563ab367 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/util/streamball.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/util/streamball.py
@@ -1,50 +1,26 @@
 """
-A simple wrapper for writing tarballs as a stream.  The work is performed in a
-thread and data is written to a Queue instead of a file.
+A simple wrapper for writing tarballs as a stream.
 """
 
 import logging, tarfile
 
-from Queue import Queue, Empty, Full
-from threading import Thread
-
 log = logging.getLogger( __name__ )
 
-class QueueArchive( object ):
-    queue_size = 32
-    def __init__( self ):
-        self.queue = Queue( QueueArchive.queue_size )
-        self.get = self.queue.get
-        self.empty = self.queue.empty
-    def write( self, data ):
-        self.queue.put( data, block=True, timeout=300 )
-    def tell( self ):
-        return 0
-
 class StreamBall( object ):
     def __init__( self, mode, members={} ):
         self.mode = mode
         self.members = members
-        self.tarfileobj = QueueArchive()
+        self.wsgi_status = None
+        self.wsgi_headeritems = None
     def add( self, file, relpath ):
         self.members[file] = relpath
-    def stream( self ):
-        t = Thread( target=self.thread_write )
-        t.start()
-        while t.isAlive():
-            try:
-                yield self.tarfileobj.get( block=False )
-            except Empty:
-                pass
-        t.join()
-        # exhaust the queue
-        while not self.tarfileobj.empty():
-            yield self.tarfileobj.get()
-    def thread_write( self ):
-        tf = tarfile.open( mode=self.mode, fileobj=self.tarfileobj )
-        try:
-            for file, rel in self.members.items():
-                tf.add( file, arcname=rel )
-            tf.close()
-        except Full:
-            log.warning( 'Queue full for longer than 300 seconds, timing out' )
+    def stream( self, environ, start_response ):
+        response_write = start_response( self.wsgi_status, self.wsgi_headeritems )
+        class tarfileobj:
+            def write( self, *args, **kwargs ):
+                response_write( *args, **kwargs )
+        tf = tarfile.open( mode=self.mode, fileobj=tarfileobj() )
+        for file, rel in self.members.items():
+            tf.add( file, arcname=rel )
+        tf.close()
+        return []
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/web/controllers/library.py b/lib/galaxy/web/controllers/library.py
index e41c8fb3ba4..dead20349dd 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/web/controllers/library.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/web/controllers/library.py
@@ -304,7 +304,9 @@ class Library( BaseController ):
             else:
                 trans.response.set_content_type( "application/x-tar" )
                 trans.response.headers[ "Content-Disposition" ] = "attachment; filename=GalaxyLibraryFiles.%s" % params.do_action
-                return archive.stream()
+                archive.wsgi_status = trans.response.wsgi_status()
+                archive.wsgi_headeritems = trans.response.wsgi_headeritems()
+                return archive.stream
     @web.expose
     def download_dataset_from_folder(self, trans, id, library_id=None, **kwd):
         """Catches the dataset id and displays file contents as directed"""