diff --git a/include/block/block.h b/include/block/block.h
index 34770bb..dbce3c9 100644
--- a/include/block/block.h
+++ b/include/block/block.h
@@ -65,9 +65,13 @@ typedef enum {
     BDRV_REQ_NO_SERIALISING     = 0x8,
     BDRV_REQ_FUA                = 0x10,
     BDRV_REQ_WRITE_COMPRESSED   = 0x20,
+    /* The BDRV_REQ_ALLOCATE flag is used to indicate that the driver has to
+     * efficiently allocate the space so it reads as zeroes, or return an error.
+     */
+    BDRV_REQ_ALLOCATE           = 0x40,
 
     /* Mask of valid flags */
-    BDRV_REQ_MASK               = 0x3f,
+    BDRV_REQ_MASK               = 0x7f,
 } BdrvRequestFlags;
 
 typedef struct BlockSizes {
diff --git a/include/block/block_int.h b/include/block/block_int.h
index d4f4ea7..1883143 100644
--- a/include/block/block_int.h
+++ b/include/block/block_int.h
@@ -578,7 +578,7 @@ struct BlockDriverState {
     /* Flags honored during pwrite (so far: BDRV_REQ_FUA) */
     unsigned int supported_write_flags;
     /* Flags honored during pwrite_zeroes (so far: BDRV_REQ_FUA,
-     * BDRV_REQ_MAY_UNMAP) */
+     * BDRV_REQ_MAY_UNMAP, BDRV_REQ_ALLOCATE) */
     unsigned int supported_zero_flags;
 
     /* the following member gives a name to every node on the bs graph. */
diff --git a/block/io.c b/block/io.c
index d9dc822..b3f9d61 100644
--- a/block/io.c
+++ b/block/io.c
@@ -1275,7 +1275,7 @@ static int coroutine_fn bdrv_co_do_pwrite_zeroes(BlockDriverState *bs,
             assert(!bs->supported_zero_flags);
         }
 
-        if (ret == -ENOTSUP) {
+        if (ret == -ENOTSUP && !(flags & BDRV_REQ_ALLOCATE)) {
             /* Fall back to bounce buffer if write zeroes is unsupported */
             BdrvRequestFlags write_flags = flags & ~BDRV_REQ_ZERO_WRITE;
 
@@ -1362,8 +1362,8 @@ static int coroutine_fn bdrv_aligned_pwritev(BdrvChild *child,
     ret = notifier_with_return_list_notify(&bs->before_write_notifiers, req);
 
     if (!ret && bs->detect_zeroes != BLOCKDEV_DETECT_ZEROES_OPTIONS_OFF &&
-        !(flags & BDRV_REQ_ZERO_WRITE) && drv->bdrv_co_pwrite_zeroes &&
-        qemu_iovec_is_zero(qiov)) {
+        !(flags & BDRV_REQ_ZERO_WRITE) && !(flags & BDRV_REQ_ALLOCATE) &&
+        drv->bdrv_co_pwrite_zeroes && qemu_iovec_is_zero(qiov)) {
         flags |= BDRV_REQ_ZERO_WRITE;
         if (bs->detect_zeroes == BLOCKDEV_DETECT_ZEROES_OPTIONS_UNMAP) {
             flags |= BDRV_REQ_MAY_UNMAP;
@@ -1441,6 +1441,9 @@ static int coroutine_fn bdrv_co_do_zero_pwritev(BdrvChild *child,
 
     assert(flags & BDRV_REQ_ZERO_WRITE);
     if (head_padding_bytes || tail_padding_bytes) {
+        if (flags & BDRV_REQ_ALLOCATE) {
+            return -ENOTSUP;
+        }
         buf = qemu_blockalign(bs, align);
         iov = (struct iovec) {
             .iov_base   = buf,
@@ -1539,6 +1542,9 @@ int coroutine_fn bdrv_co_pwritev(BdrvChild *child,
         return ret;
     }
 
+    /* allocation request with qiov provided doesn't make much sense */
+    assert(!(qiov && flags & BDRV_REQ_ALLOCATE));
+
     bdrv_inc_in_flight(bs);
     /*
      * Align write if necessary by performing a read-modify-write cycle.
@@ -1670,6 +1676,14 @@ int coroutine_fn bdrv_co_pwrite_zeroes(BdrvChild *child, int64_t offset,
 {
     trace_bdrv_co_pwrite_zeroes(child->bs, offset, bytes, flags);
 
+    assert(!(flags & BDRV_REQ_MAY_UNMAP && flags & BDRV_REQ_ALLOCATE));
+
+    if (flags & BDRV_REQ_ALLOCATE &&
+        !(child->bs->supported_zero_flags & BDRV_REQ_ALLOCATE))
+    {
+        return -ENOTSUP;
+    }
+
     if (!(child->bs->open_flags & BDRV_O_UNMAP)) {
         flags &= ~BDRV_REQ_MAY_UNMAP;
     }
diff --git a/block/trace-events b/block/trace-events
index 8d10a82..b9746a7 100644
--- a/block/trace-events
+++ b/block/trace-events
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ blk_co_pwritev(void *blk, void *bs, int64_t offset, unsigned int bytes, int flag
 bdrv_co_readv(void *bs, int64_t sector_num, int nb_sector) "bs %p sector_num %"PRId64" nb_sectors %d"
 bdrv_co_writev(void *bs, int64_t sector_num, int nb_sector) "bs %p sector_num %"PRId64" nb_sectors %d"
 bdrv_co_pwrite_zeroes(void *bs, int64_t offset, int count, int flags) "bs %p offset %"PRId64" count %d flags %#x"
+bdrv_co_allocate(void *bs, int64_t offset, int count) "bs %p offset %"PRId64" count %d"
 bdrv_co_do_copy_on_readv(void *bs, int64_t offset, unsigned int bytes, int64_t cluster_offset, unsigned int cluster_bytes) "bs %p offset %"PRId64" bytes %u cluster_offset %"PRId64" cluster_bytes %u"
 
 # block/stream.c
