diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/atom/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/atom/default.nix
index e936c8a5a7c6..39fe8fcb77e6 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/atom/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/atom/default.nix
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "atom-${version}";
-  version = "1.17.2";
+  version = "1.18.0";
 
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "https://github.com/atom/atom/releases/download/v${version}/atom-amd64.deb";
-    sha256 = "05lf9f5c9l111prx7d76cr5h8h340vm7vb8hra5rdrqhjpdvwhhn";
+    sha256 = "07hssch8sfyp5sji91lx4v62m8zmy9j971i968p747dwfp6g0my6";
     name = "${name}.deb";
   };
 
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   buildCommand = ''
     mkdir -p $out/usr/
-    ar p $src data.tar.gz | tar -C $out -xz ./usr
+    ar p $src data.tar.xz | tar -C $out -xJ ./usr
     substituteInPlace $out/usr/share/applications/atom.desktop \
       --replace /usr/share/atom $out/bin
     mv $out/usr/* $out/