diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 495f12eda8..82b30951d2 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -329,8 +329,8 @@ CHANGES WITH 260 in spe:
           the same switch in systemd-nspawn.
 
         * systemd-vmspawn gained a new switch --image-format= for selecting the
-          image format (i.e. support qcow2 in additin to raw) to boot
-          from. --extra-drive= now takes the image format as a colon separated
+          image format (i.e. support qcow2 in additin to raw) to boot from.
+          Also --extra-drive= now takes the image format as a colon separated
           parameter.
 
         Changes in systemd-nsresourced/systemd-mountfsd:
diff --git a/man/systemd-vmspawn.xml b/man/systemd-vmspawn.xml
index 0b4fef2314..136bd65340 100644
--- a/man/systemd-vmspawn.xml
+++ b/man/systemd-vmspawn.xml
@@ -489,12 +489,13 @@
         </varlistentry>
 
         <varlistentry>
-          <term><option>--extra-drive=<replaceable>PATH</replaceable>[:<replaceable>FORMAT</replaceable>]</option></term>
+          <term><option>--extra-drive=[<replaceable>FORMAT</replaceable>:]<replaceable>PATH</replaceable></option></term>
 
           <listitem><para>Takes a disk image or block device on the host and supplies it to the virtual
-          machine as another drive. Optionally, the image format can be specified by appending a colon and
-          the format (<literal>raw</literal> or <literal>qcow2</literal>). Defaults to <literal>raw</literal>.
-          Note that <literal>qcow2</literal> is only supported for regular files, not block devices.</para>
+          machine as another drive. Optionally, the image format can be specified by prefixing the path with
+          <literal>raw</literal> or <literal>qcow2</literal> and a colon. The format defaults to
+          <literal>raw</literal>. Note that <literal>qcow2</literal> is only supported for regular files, not
+          block devices.</para>
 
           <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v256"/></listitem>
         </varlistentry>
diff --git a/src/vmspawn/vmspawn.c b/src/vmspawn/vmspawn.c
index d68a621e06..fc647b1563 100644
--- a/src/vmspawn/vmspawn.c
+++ b/src/vmspawn/vmspawn.c
@@ -238,9 +238,9 @@ static int help(void) {
                "                           Mount a file or directory from the host into the VM\n"
                "     --bind-ro=SOURCE[:TARGET]\n"
                "                           Mount a file or directory, but read-only\n"
-               "     --extra-drive=PATH[:FORMAT]\n"
+               "     --extra-drive=[FORMAT:]PATH\n"
                "                           Adds an additional disk to the virtual machine\n"
-               "                           (format: raw, qcow2; default: raw)\n"
+               "                           (FORMAT: raw, qcow2; default: raw)\n"
                "     --bind-user=NAME       Bind user from host to virtual machine\n"
                "     --bind-user-shell=BOOL|PATH\n"
                "                            Configure the shell to use for --bind-user= users\n"
@@ -559,23 +559,26 @@ static int parse_argv(int argc, char *argv[]) {
                         break;
 
                 case ARG_EXTRA_DRIVE: {
-                        _cleanup_free_ char *buf = NULL, *drive_path = NULL;
                         ImageFormat format = IMAGE_FORMAT_RAW;
+                        const char *dp = optarg;
 
-                        const char *colon = strrchr(optarg, ':');
+                        const char *colon = strchr(dp, ':');
                         if (colon) {
-                                ImageFormat f = image_format_from_string(colon + 1);
+                                _cleanup_free_ char *fs = strndup(optarg, colon - optarg);
+                                if (!fs)
+                                        return log_oom();
+
+                                ImageFormat f = image_format_from_string(fs);
                                 if (f < 0)
-                                        log_debug_errno(f, "Failed to parse image format '%s', assuming it is a part of path, ignoring: %m", colon + 1);
+                                        log_debug_errno(f, "Cannot parse '%s' as an image format, assuming it is a part of path, ignoring.", fs);
                                 else {
                                         format = f;
-                                        buf = strndup(optarg, colon - optarg);
-                                        if (!buf)
-                                                return log_oom();
+                                        dp = colon + 1;
                                 }
                         }
 
-                        r = parse_path_argument(buf ?: optarg, /* suppress_root= */ false, &drive_path);
+                        _cleanup_free_ char *drive_path = NULL;
+                        r = parse_path_argument(dp, /* suppress_root= */ false, &drive_path);
                         if (r < 0)
                                 return r;