diff --git a/hw/9pfs/9p.c b/hw/9pfs/9p.c
index 30e33b6573..a7d36b6350 100644
--- a/hw/9pfs/9p.c
+++ b/hw/9pfs/9p.c
@@ -971,30 +971,6 @@ static int coroutine_fn fid_to_qid(V9fsPDU *pdu, V9fsFidState *fidp,
     return 0;
 }
 
-static int coroutine_fn dirent_to_qid(V9fsPDU *pdu, V9fsFidState *fidp,
-                                      struct dirent *dent, V9fsQID *qidp)
-{
-    struct stat stbuf;
-    V9fsPath path;
-    int err;
-
-    v9fs_path_init(&path);
-
-    err = v9fs_co_name_to_path(pdu, &fidp->path, dent->d_name, &path);
-    if (err < 0) {
-        goto out;
-    }
-    err = v9fs_co_lstat(pdu, &path, &stbuf);
-    if (err < 0) {
-        goto out;
-    }
-    err = stat_to_qid(pdu, &stbuf, qidp);
-
-out:
-    v9fs_path_free(&path);
-    return err;
-}
-
 V9fsPDU *pdu_alloc(V9fsState *s)
 {
     V9fsPDU *pdu = NULL;
@@ -2302,7 +2278,7 @@ out_nofid:
     pdu_complete(pdu, err);
 }
 
-static size_t v9fs_readdir_data_size(V9fsString *name)
+size_t v9fs_readdir_response_size(V9fsString *name)
 {
     /*
      * Size of each dirent on the wire: size of qid (13) + size of offset (8)
@@ -2311,6 +2287,18 @@ static size_t v9fs_readdir_data_size(V9fsString *name)
     return 24 + v9fs_string_size(name);
 }
 
+static void v9fs_free_dirents(struct V9fsDirEnt *e)
+{
+    struct V9fsDirEnt *next = NULL;
+
+    for (; e; e = next) {
+        next = e->next;
+        g_free(e->dent);
+        g_free(e->st);
+        g_free(e);
+    }
+}
+
 static int coroutine_fn v9fs_do_readdir(V9fsPDU *pdu, V9fsFidState *fidp,
                                         int32_t max_count)
 {
@@ -2319,54 +2307,53 @@ static int coroutine_fn v9fs_do_readdir(V9fsPDU *pdu, V9fsFidState *fidp,
     V9fsString name;
     int len, err = 0;
     int32_t count = 0;
-    off_t saved_dir_pos;
     struct dirent *dent;
+    struct stat *st;
+    struct V9fsDirEnt *entries = NULL;
 
-    /* save the directory position */
-    saved_dir_pos = v9fs_co_telldir(pdu, fidp);
-    if (saved_dir_pos < 0) {
-        return saved_dir_pos;
-    }
-
-    while (1) {
-        v9fs_readdir_lock(&fidp->fs.dir);
+    /*
+     * inode remapping requires the device id, which in turn might be
+     * different for different directory entries, so if inode remapping is
+     * enabled we have to make a full stat for each directory entry
+     */
+    const bool dostat = pdu->s->ctx.export_flags & V9FS_REMAP_INODES;
 
-        err = v9fs_co_readdir(pdu, fidp, &dent);
-        if (err || !dent) {
-            break;
-        }
-        v9fs_string_init(&name);
-        v9fs_string_sprintf(&name, "%s", dent->d_name);
-        if ((count + v9fs_readdir_data_size(&name)) > max_count) {
-            v9fs_readdir_unlock(&fidp->fs.dir);
+    /*
+     * Fetch all required directory entries altogether on a background IO
+     * thread from fs driver. We don't want to do that for each entry
+     * individually, because hopping between threads (this main IO thread
+     * and background IO driver thread) would sum up to huge latencies.
+     */
+    count = v9fs_co_readdir_lowlat(pdu, fidp, &entries, max_count, dostat);
+    if (count < 0) {
+        err = count;
+        count = 0;
+        goto out;
+    }
+    count = 0;
 
-            /* Ran out of buffer. Set dir back to old position and return */
-            v9fs_co_seekdir(pdu, fidp, saved_dir_pos);
-            v9fs_string_free(&name);
-            return count;
-        }
+    for (struct V9fsDirEnt *e = entries; e; e = e->next) {
+        dent = e->dent;
 
         if (pdu->s->ctx.export_flags & V9FS_REMAP_INODES) {
-            /*
-             * dirent_to_qid() implies expensive stat call for each entry,
-             * we must do that here though since inode remapping requires
-             * the device id, which in turn might be different for
-             * different entries; we cannot make any assumption to avoid
-             * that here.
-             */
-            err = dirent_to_qid(pdu, fidp, dent, &qid);
+            st = e->st;
+            /* e->st should never be NULL, but just to be sure */
+            if (!st) {
+                err = -1;
+                break;
+            }
+
+            /* remap inode */
+            err = stat_to_qid(pdu, st, &qid);
             if (err < 0) {
-                v9fs_readdir_unlock(&fidp->fs.dir);
-                v9fs_co_seekdir(pdu, fidp, saved_dir_pos);
-                v9fs_string_free(&name);
-                return err;
+                break;
             }
         } else {
             /*
              * Fill up just the path field of qid because the client uses
              * only that. To fill the entire qid structure we will have
              * to stat each dirent found, which is expensive. For the
-             * latter reason we don't call dirent_to_qid() here. Only drawback
+             * latter reason we don't call stat_to_qid() here. Only drawback
              * is that no multi-device export detection of stat_to_qid()
              * would be done and provided as error to the user here. But
              * user would get that error anyway when accessing those
@@ -2379,25 +2366,26 @@ static int coroutine_fn v9fs_do_readdir(V9fsPDU *pdu, V9fsFidState *fidp,
             qid.version = 0;
         }
 
+        v9fs_string_init(&name);
+        v9fs_string_sprintf(&name, "%s", dent->d_name);
+
         /* 11 = 7 + 4 (7 = start offset, 4 = space for storing count) */
         len = pdu_marshal(pdu, 11 + count, "Qqbs",
                           &qid, dent->d_off,
                           dent->d_type, &name);
 
-        v9fs_readdir_unlock(&fidp->fs.dir);
+        v9fs_string_free(&name);
 
         if (len < 0) {
-            v9fs_co_seekdir(pdu, fidp, saved_dir_pos);
-            v9fs_string_free(&name);
-            return len;
+            err = len;
+            break;
         }
+
         count += len;
-        v9fs_string_free(&name);
-        saved_dir_pos = dent->d_off;
     }
 
-    v9fs_readdir_unlock(&fidp->fs.dir);
-
+out:
+    v9fs_free_dirents(entries);
     if (err < 0) {
         return err;
     }
diff --git a/hw/9pfs/9p.h b/hw/9pfs/9p.h
index 3904f82901..38712dd16d 100644
--- a/hw/9pfs/9p.h
+++ b/hw/9pfs/9p.h
@@ -204,6 +204,28 @@ static inline void v9fs_readdir_init(V9fsDir *dir)
     qemu_mutex_init(&dir->readdir_mutex);
 }
 
+/*
+ * Type for 9p fs drivers' (a.k.a. 9p backends) result of readdir requests,
+ * which is a chained list of directory entries.
+ */
+typedef struct V9fsDirEnt {
+    /* mandatory (must not be NULL) information for all readdir requests */
+    struct dirent *dent;
+    /*
+     * optional (may be NULL): A full stat of each directory entry is just
+     * done if explicitly told to fs driver.
+     */
+    struct stat *st;
+    /*
+     * instead of an array, directory entries are always returned as
+     * chained list, that's because the amount of entries retrieved by fs
+     * drivers is dependent on the individual entries' name (since response
+     * messages are size limited), so the final amount cannot be estimated
+     * before hand
+     */
+    struct V9fsDirEnt *next;
+} V9fsDirEnt;
+
 /*
  * Filled by fs driver on open and other
  * calls.
@@ -408,6 +430,7 @@ void v9fs_path_init(V9fsPath *path);
 void v9fs_path_free(V9fsPath *path);
 void v9fs_path_sprintf(V9fsPath *path, const char *fmt, ...);
 void v9fs_path_copy(V9fsPath *dst, const V9fsPath *src);
+size_t v9fs_readdir_response_size(V9fsString *name);
 int v9fs_name_to_path(V9fsState *s, V9fsPath *dirpath,
                       const char *name, V9fsPath *path);
 int v9fs_device_realize_common(V9fsState *s, const V9fsTransport *t,
diff --git a/hw/9pfs/codir.c b/hw/9pfs/codir.c
index 73f9a751e1..bd36491510 100644
--- a/hw/9pfs/codir.c
+++ b/hw/9pfs/codir.c
@@ -18,28 +18,189 @@
 #include "qemu/main-loop.h"
 #include "coth.h"
 
+/*
+ * This is solely executed on a background IO thread.
+ */
+static int do_readdir(V9fsPDU *pdu, V9fsFidState *fidp, struct dirent **dent)
+{
+    int err = 0;
+    V9fsState *s = pdu->s;
+    struct dirent *entry;
+
+    errno = 0;
+    entry = s->ops->readdir(&s->ctx, &fidp->fs);
+    if (!entry && errno) {
+        *dent = NULL;
+        err = -errno;
+    } else {
+        *dent = entry;
+    }
+    return err;
+}
+
+/*
+ * TODO: This will be removed for performance reasons.
+ * Use v9fs_co_readdir_lowlat() instead.
+ */
 int coroutine_fn v9fs_co_readdir(V9fsPDU *pdu, V9fsFidState *fidp,
                                  struct dirent **dent)
 {
     int err;
-    V9fsState *s = pdu->s;
 
     if (v9fs_request_cancelled(pdu)) {
         return -EINTR;
     }
-    v9fs_co_run_in_worker(
-        {
-            struct dirent *entry;
+    v9fs_co_run_in_worker({
+        err = do_readdir(pdu, fidp, dent);
+    });
+    return err;
+}
+
+/*
+ * This is solely executed on a background IO thread.
+ *
+ * See v9fs_co_readdir_lowlat() (as its only user) below for details.
+ */
+static int do_readdir_lowlat(V9fsPDU *pdu, V9fsFidState *fidp,
+                             struct V9fsDirEnt **entries,
+                             int32_t maxsize, bool dostat)
+{
+    V9fsState *s = pdu->s;
+    V9fsString name;
+    int len, err = 0;
+    int32_t size = 0;
+    off_t saved_dir_pos;
+    struct dirent *dent;
+    struct V9fsDirEnt *e = NULL;
+    V9fsPath path;
+    struct stat stbuf;
+
+    *entries = NULL;
+    v9fs_path_init(&path);
+
+    /*
+     * TODO: Here should be an error_warn_once() if lock failed.
+     *
+     * With a good 9p client we should not get into concurrency here,
+     * because a good client would not use the same fid for concurrent
+     * requests. We do the lock here for safety reasons though. However
+     * the client would then suffer performance issues, so better log that
+     * issue here.
+     */
+    v9fs_readdir_lock(&fidp->fs.dir);
+
+    /* save the directory position */
+    saved_dir_pos = s->ops->telldir(&s->ctx, &fidp->fs);
+    if (saved_dir_pos < 0) {
+        err = saved_dir_pos;
+        goto out;
+    }
+
+    while (true) {
+        /* get directory entry from fs driver */
+        err = do_readdir(pdu, fidp, &dent);
+        if (err || !dent) {
+            break;
+        }
+
+        /*
+         * stop this loop as soon as it would exceed the allowed maximum
+         * response message size for the directory entries collected so far,
+         * because anything beyond that size would need to be discarded by
+         * 9p controller (main thread / top half) anyway
+         */
+        v9fs_string_init(&name);
+        v9fs_string_sprintf(&name, "%s", dent->d_name);
+        len = v9fs_readdir_response_size(&name);
+        v9fs_string_free(&name);
+        if (size + len > maxsize) {
+            /* this is not an error case actually */
+            break;
+        }
+
+        /* append next node to result chain */
+        if (!e) {
+            *entries = e = g_malloc0(sizeof(V9fsDirEnt));
+        } else {
+            e = e->next = g_malloc0(sizeof(V9fsDirEnt));
+        }
+        e->dent = g_malloc0(sizeof(struct dirent));
+        memcpy(e->dent, dent, sizeof(struct dirent));
 
-            errno = 0;
-            entry = s->ops->readdir(&s->ctx, &fidp->fs);
-            if (!entry && errno) {
+        /* perform a full stat() for directory entry if requested by caller */
+        if (dostat) {
+            err = s->ops->name_to_path(
+                &s->ctx, &fidp->path, dent->d_name, &path
+            );
+            if (err < 0) {
                 err = -errno;
-            } else {
-                *dent = entry;
-                err = 0;
+                break;
             }
-        });
+
+            err = s->ops->lstat(&s->ctx, &path, &stbuf);
+            if (err < 0) {
+                err = -errno;
+                break;
+            }
+
+            e->st = g_malloc0(sizeof(struct stat));
+            memcpy(e->st, &stbuf, sizeof(struct stat));
+        }
+
+        size += len;
+        saved_dir_pos = dent->d_off;
+    }
+
+    /* restore (last) saved position */
+    s->ops->seekdir(&s->ctx, &fidp->fs, saved_dir_pos);
+
+out:
+    v9fs_readdir_unlock(&fidp->fs.dir);
+    v9fs_path_free(&path);
+    if (err < 0) {
+        return err;
+    }
+    return size;
+}
+
+/**
+ * @brief Low latency variant of fs driver readdir handling.
+ *
+ * Retrieves the requested (max. amount of) directory entries from the fs
+ * driver. This function must only be called by the main IO thread (top half).
+ * Internally this function call will be dispatched to a background IO thread
+ * (bottom half) where it is eventually executed by the fs driver.
+ *
+ * The old readdir implementation above just retrieves always one dir entry
+ * per call. The problem of that implementation above is that latency is
+ * added for (retrieval of) each directory entry, which in practice lead to
+ * latencies of several hundred ms for readdir of only one directory.
+ *
+ * This is avoided in this function by letting the fs driver retrieve all
+ * required directory entries with only call of this function and hence with
+ * only a single fs driver request.
+ *
+ * @param pdu - the causing 9p (T_readdir) client request
+ * @param fidp - already opened directory where readdir shall be performed on
+ * @param entries - output for directory entries (must not be NULL)
+ * @param maxsize - maximum result message body size (in bytes)
+ * @param dostat - whether a stat() should be performed and returned for
+ *                 each directory entry
+ * @returns resulting response message body size (in bytes) on success,
+ *          negative error code otherwise
+ */
+int coroutine_fn v9fs_co_readdir_lowlat(V9fsPDU *pdu, V9fsFidState *fidp,
+                                        struct V9fsDirEnt **entries,
+                                        int32_t maxsize, bool dostat)
+{
+    int err = 0;
+
+    if (v9fs_request_cancelled(pdu)) {
+        return -EINTR;
+    }
+    v9fs_co_run_in_worker({
+        err = do_readdir_lowlat(pdu, fidp, entries, maxsize, dostat);
+    });
     return err;
 }
 
diff --git a/hw/9pfs/coth.h b/hw/9pfs/coth.h
index c2cdc7a9ea..1249dbe6df 100644
--- a/hw/9pfs/coth.h
+++ b/hw/9pfs/coth.h
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@
 void co_run_in_worker_bh(void *);
 int coroutine_fn v9fs_co_readlink(V9fsPDU *, V9fsPath *, V9fsString *);
 int coroutine_fn v9fs_co_readdir(V9fsPDU *, V9fsFidState *, struct dirent **);
+int coroutine_fn v9fs_co_readdir_lowlat(V9fsPDU *, V9fsFidState *,
+                                        struct V9fsDirEnt **,
+                                        int32_t, bool);
 off_t coroutine_fn v9fs_co_telldir(V9fsPDU *, V9fsFidState *);
 void coroutine_fn v9fs_co_seekdir(V9fsPDU *, V9fsFidState *, off_t);
 void coroutine_fn v9fs_co_rewinddir(V9fsPDU *, V9fsFidState *);
