The 5′ leader of the HIV-1 genome contains conserved elements that direct selective packaging of the unspliced, dimeric viral RNA into assembling particles. By using a ²H-edited nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) approach, we determined the structure of a 155-nucleotide region of the leader that is independently capable of directing packaging (core encapsidation signal; Ψ^CES). The RNA adopts an unexpected tandem three-way junction structure, in which residues of the major splice donor and translation initiation sites are sequestered by long-range base pairing and guanosines essential for both packaging and high-affinity binding to the cognate Gag protein are exposed in helical junctions. The structure reveals how translation is attenuated, Gag binding promoted, and unspliced dimeric genomes selected, by the RNA conformer that directs packaging.