diff --git a/blockdev-nbd.c b/blockdev-nbd.c
index 6a8b206..2a01a04 100644
--- a/blockdev-nbd.c
+++ b/blockdev-nbd.c
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ void qmp_nbd_server_add(const char *device, bool has_name, const char *name,
     }
 
     exp = nbd_export_new(bs, 0, len, name, NULL, bitmap, !writable, !writable,
-                         NULL, false, on_eject_blk, errp);
+                         0, NULL, false, on_eject_blk, errp);
     if (!exp) {
         goto out;
     }
diff --git a/include/block/nbd.h b/include/block/nbd.h
index 316fd70..0032f73 100644
--- a/include/block/nbd.h
+++ b/include/block/nbd.h
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@
 #include "crypto/tlscreds.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
 
+enum {
+  NBD_INTERNAL_FLAG_COMPRESS = 1 << 1, /* Use write compressed */
+};
+
 /* Handshake phase structs - this struct is passed on the wire */
 
 struct NBDOption {
@@ -330,7 +334,8 @@ typedef struct NBDClient NBDClient;
 
 NBDExport *nbd_export_new(BlockDriverState *bs, uint64_t dev_offset,
                           uint64_t size, const char *name, const char *desc,
-                          const char *bitmap, bool readonly, bool shared,
+                          const char *bitmap, bool readonly,
+                          bool shared, uint32_t iflags,
                           void (*close)(NBDExport *), bool writethrough,
                           BlockBackend *on_eject_blk, Error **errp);
 void nbd_export_close(NBDExport *exp);
diff --git a/nbd/server.c b/nbd/server.c
index d8d1e62..96d581d 100644
--- a/nbd/server.c
+++ b/nbd/server.c
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ struct NBDExport {
     uint16_t nbdflags;
     QTAILQ_HEAD(, NBDClient) clients;
     QTAILQ_ENTRY(NBDExport) next;
+    uint32_t iflags;
 
     AioContext *ctx;
 
@@ -1471,7 +1472,8 @@ static void nbd_eject_notifier(Notifier *n, void *data)
 
 NBDExport *nbd_export_new(BlockDriverState *bs, uint64_t dev_offset,
                           uint64_t size, const char *name, const char *desc,
-                          const char *bitmap, bool readonly, bool shared,
+                          const char *bitmap, bool readonly,
+                          bool shared, uint32_t iflags,
                           void (*close)(NBDExport *), bool writethrough,
                           BlockBackend *on_eject_blk, Error **errp)
 {
@@ -1525,6 +1527,7 @@ NBDExport *nbd_export_new(BlockDriverState *bs, uint64_t dev_offset,
         exp->nbdflags |= (NBD_FLAG_SEND_TRIM | NBD_FLAG_SEND_WRITE_ZEROES |
                           NBD_FLAG_SEND_FAST_ZERO);
     }
+    exp->iflags = iflags;
     assert(size <= INT64_MAX - dev_offset);
     exp->size = QEMU_ALIGN_DOWN(size, BDRV_SECTOR_SIZE);
 
@@ -2312,6 +2315,9 @@ static coroutine_fn int nbd_handle_request(NBDClient *client,
         if (request->flags & NBD_CMD_FLAG_FUA) {
             flags |= BDRV_REQ_FUA;
         }
+        if (exp->iflags & NBD_INTERNAL_FLAG_COMPRESS) {
+            flags |= BDRV_REQ_WRITE_COMPRESSED;
+        }
         ret = blk_pwrite(exp->blk, request->from + exp->dev_offset,
                          data, request->len, flags);
         return nbd_send_generic_reply(client, request->handle, ret,
diff --git a/qemu-nbd.c b/qemu-nbd.c
index 9032b6d..3765c4b 100644
--- a/qemu-nbd.c
+++ b/qemu-nbd.c
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ static void usage(const char *name)
 "      --discard=MODE        set discard mode (ignore, unmap)\n"
 "      --detect-zeroes=MODE  set detect-zeroes mode (off, on, unmap)\n"
 "      --image-opts          treat FILE as a full set of image options\n"
+"  -C, --compress            use data compression (if the target format supports it)\n"
 "\n"
 QEMU_HELP_BOTTOM "\n"
     , name, name, NBD_DEFAULT_PORT, "DEVICE");
@@ -602,6 +603,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     BlockDriverState *bs;
     uint64_t dev_offset = 0;
     bool readonly = false;
+    uint32_t iflags = 0;
     bool disconnect = false;
     const char *bindto = NULL;
     const char *port = NULL;
@@ -610,7 +612,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     int64_t fd_size;
     QemuOpts *sn_opts = NULL;
     const char *sn_id_or_name = NULL;
-    const char *sopt = "hVb:o:p:rsnP:c:dvk:e:f:tl:x:T:D:B:L";
+    const char *sopt = "hVb:o:p:CrsnP:c:dvk:e:f:tl:x:T:D:B:L";
     struct option lopt[] = {
         { "help", no_argument, NULL, 'h' },
         { "version", no_argument, NULL, 'V' },
@@ -619,6 +621,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
         { "socket", required_argument, NULL, 'k' },
         { "offset", required_argument, NULL, 'o' },
         { "read-only", no_argument, NULL, 'r' },
+        { "compress", no_argument, NULL, 'C'},
         { "partition", required_argument, NULL, 'P' },
         { "bitmap", required_argument, NULL, 'B' },
         { "connect", required_argument, NULL, 'c' },
@@ -786,6 +789,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
             readonly = true;
             flags &= ~BDRV_O_RDWR;
             break;
+        case 'C':
+            iflags |= NBD_INTERNAL_FLAG_COMPRESS;
+            break;
         case 'P':
             warn_report("The '-P' option is deprecated; use --image-opts with "
                         "a raw device wrapper for subset exports instead");
@@ -1117,6 +1123,14 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
     blk_set_enable_write_cache(blk, !writethrough);
 
+    if ((iflags & NBD_INTERNAL_FLAG_COMPRESS) &&
+        !(bs->drv && bs->drv->bdrv_co_pwritev_compressed_part))
+    {
+        error_report("Compression not supported for this file format %s",
+                     argv[optind]);
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
+
     if (sn_opts) {
         ret = bdrv_snapshot_load_tmp(bs,
                                      qemu_opt_get(sn_opts, SNAPSHOT_OPT_ID),
@@ -1175,7 +1189,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
     export = nbd_export_new(bs, dev_offset, fd_size, export_name,
                             export_description, bitmap, readonly, shared > 1,
-                            nbd_export_closed, writethrough, NULL,
+                            iflags, nbd_export_closed, writethrough, NULL,
                             &error_fatal);
 
     if (device) {
diff --git a/qemu-nbd.texi b/qemu-nbd.texi
index 7f55657..26ea1ec 100644
--- a/qemu-nbd.texi
+++ b/qemu-nbd.texi
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ Force the use of the block driver for format @var{fmt} instead of
 auto-detecting.
 @item -r, --read-only
 Export the disk as read-only.
+@item -C, --compress
+Use data compression (if the target format supports it)
 @item -P, --partition=@var{num}
 Deprecated: Only expose MBR partition @var{num}.  Understands physical
 partitions 1-4 and logical partition 5. New code should instead use
