diff --git a/src/import/import-common.c b/src/import/import-common.c
index 7633aadc53..327da2707e 100644
--- a/src/import/import-common.c
+++ b/src/import/import-common.c
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include "sd-event.h"
 
 #include "acl-util.h"
+#include "blockdev-util.h"
 #include "capability-util.h"
 #include "compress.h"
 #include "dirent-util.h"
@@ -432,3 +433,26 @@ int import_remove_tree(const char *path, int *userns_fd, ImportFlags flags) {
 
         return 0;
 }
+
+int import_zero_fill(int fd, uint64_t offset, uint64_t size_max, uint64_t skip) {
+        int r;
+
+        assert(fd >= 0);
+        assert(offset != UINT64_MAX);
+        assert(size_max != UINT64_MAX);
+
+        /* Fill up whatever is left of the destination range (i.e. the range starting at 'offset' and
+         * 'size_max' bytes long, minus the first 'skip' bytes we already wrote) with zeroes, so that no
+         * remnants of previous, larger contents survive after our data. */
+
+        if (skip > size_max)
+                return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL), "Number of bytes to skip larger than maximum size of destination range.");
+        if (offset > UINT64_MAX - skip)
+                return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EOVERFLOW), "Destination offset overflows.");
+
+        r = blockdev_zero_out(fd, offset + skip, size_max - skip);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to fill up destination with zeroes: %m");
+
+        return 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/import/import-common.h b/src/import/import-common.h
index 68525a777d..ea38a219e3 100644
--- a/src/import/import-common.h
+++ b/src/import/import-common.h
@@ -16,16 +16,17 @@ typedef enum ImportFlags {
         IMPORT_DIRECT                  = 1 <<  6, /* import without rename games */
         IMPORT_SYNC                    = 1 <<  7, /* fsync() right before we are done */
         IMPORT_FOREIGN_UID             = 1 <<  8, /* tar: go via nsresourced/mountfsd and make owned by foreign UID */
+        IMPORT_ZERO_FILL               = 1 <<  9, /* raw: fill up the remainder of the destination range (as defined by offset/size max) with zeroes */
 
         /* When pulling these flags are defined too */
-        IMPORT_PULL_SETTINGS           = 1 <<  9, /* download .nspawn settings file */
-        IMPORT_PULL_ROOTHASH           = 1 << 10, /* only for raw: download .roothash file for verity */
-        IMPORT_PULL_ROOTHASH_SIGNATURE = 1 << 11, /* only for raw: download .roothash.p7s file for verity */
-        IMPORT_PULL_VERITY             = 1 << 12, /* only for raw: download .verity file for verity */
+        IMPORT_PULL_SETTINGS           = 1 << 10, /* download .nspawn settings file */
+        IMPORT_PULL_ROOTHASH           = 1 << 11, /* only for raw: download .roothash file for verity */
+        IMPORT_PULL_ROOTHASH_SIGNATURE = 1 << 12, /* only for raw: download .roothash.p7s file for verity */
+        IMPORT_PULL_VERITY             = 1 << 13, /* only for raw: download .verity file for verity */
 
         /* The supported flags for the tar and raw importing */
         IMPORT_FLAGS_MASK_TAR          = IMPORT_FORCE|IMPORT_READ_ONLY|IMPORT_BTRFS_SUBVOL|IMPORT_BTRFS_QUOTA|IMPORT_DIRECT|IMPORT_SYNC|IMPORT_FOREIGN_UID,
-        IMPORT_FLAGS_MASK_RAW          = IMPORT_FORCE|IMPORT_READ_ONLY|IMPORT_CONVERT_QCOW2|IMPORT_DIRECT|IMPORT_SYNC,
+        IMPORT_FLAGS_MASK_RAW          = IMPORT_FORCE|IMPORT_READ_ONLY|IMPORT_CONVERT_QCOW2|IMPORT_DIRECT|IMPORT_SYNC|IMPORT_ZERO_FILL,
 
         /* The supported flags for the tar, raw, oci pulling */
         IMPORT_PULL_FLAGS_MASK_TAR     = IMPORT_FLAGS_MASK_TAR|IMPORT_PULL_KEEP_DOWNLOAD|IMPORT_PULL_SETTINGS,
@@ -49,3 +50,5 @@ int import_allocate_event_with_signals(sd_event **ret);
 int import_make_foreign_userns(int *userns_fd);
 
 int import_remove_tree(const char *path, int *userns_fd, ImportFlags flags);
+
+int import_zero_fill(int fd, uint64_t offset, uint64_t size_max, uint64_t skip);
diff --git a/src/import/import-raw.c b/src/import/import-raw.c
index 62aaf6bf86..3c22e954eb 100644
--- a/src/import/import-raw.c
+++ b/src/import/import-raw.c
@@ -217,6 +217,12 @@ static int raw_import_finish(RawImport *i) {
         assert(i);
         assert(i->output_fd >= 0);
 
+        if (FLAGS_SET(i->flags, IMPORT_ZERO_FILL)) {
+                r = import_zero_fill(i->output_fd, i->offset, i->size_max, i->written_uncompressed);
+                if (r < 0)
+                        return r;
+        }
+
         /* Nothing of what is below applies to block devices */
         if (S_ISBLK(i->output_stat.st_mode)) {
 
@@ -510,6 +516,7 @@ int raw_import_start(
         assert(local);
         assert(!(flags & ~IMPORT_FLAGS_MASK_RAW));
         assert(offset == UINT64_MAX || FLAGS_SET(flags, IMPORT_DIRECT));
+        assert(!FLAGS_SET(flags, IMPORT_ZERO_FILL) || (offset != UINT64_MAX && size_max != UINT64_MAX));
 
         if (!import_validate_local(local, flags))
                 return -EINVAL;
diff --git a/src/import/import.c b/src/import/import.c
index 190ad6079f..2e9378cba2 100644
--- a/src/import/import.c
+++ b/src/import/import.c
@@ -343,6 +343,13 @@ static int parse_argv(int argc, char *argv[], char ***ret_args) {
                         SET_FLAG(arg_import_flags, IMPORT_SYNC, r);
                         break;
 
+                OPTION_LONG("zero-fill", "BOOL", "Controls whether to fill up the destination range with zeroes"):
+                        r = parse_boolean_argument("--zero-fill=", opts.arg, NULL);
+                        if (r < 0)
+                                return r;
+                        SET_FLAG(arg_import_flags, IMPORT_ZERO_FILL, r);
+                        break;
+
                 OPTION_LONG("offset", "BYTES", "Offset to seek to in destination"): {
                         uint64_t u;
 
@@ -397,6 +404,9 @@ static int parse_argv(int argc, char *argv[], char ***ret_args) {
         if (arg_offset != UINT64_MAX && !FLAGS_SET(arg_import_flags, IMPORT_DIRECT))
                 return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL), "File offset only supported in --direct mode.");
 
+        if (FLAGS_SET(arg_import_flags, IMPORT_ZERO_FILL) && (arg_offset == UINT64_MAX || arg_size_max == UINT64_MAX))
+                return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL), "Zero filling only supported if both --offset= and --size-max= are specified.");
+
         if (!arg_image_root) {
                 r = image_root_pick(arg_runtime_scope < 0 ? RUNTIME_SCOPE_SYSTEM : arg_runtime_scope, arg_class, /* runtime= */ false, &arg_image_root);
                 if (r < 0)
diff --git a/src/import/pull-job.c b/src/import/pull-job.c
index a819911ca8..85bdf79f1a 100644
--- a/src/import/pull-job.c
+++ b/src/import/pull-job.c
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 #include "fd-util.h"
 #include "format-util.h"
 #include "hexdecoct.h"
+#include "import-common.h"
 #include "io-util.h"
 #include "log.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
@@ -458,6 +459,12 @@ static int pull_job_curl_on_finished(CurlSlot *slot, CURL *curl, CURLcode result
                         return pull_job_finish(j, log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EBADMSG), "Checksum of downloaded resource does not match expected checksum, yikes."));
         }
 
+        if (j->disk_fd >= 0 && j->zero_fill) {
+                r = import_zero_fill(j->disk_fd, j->offset, j->uncompressed_max, j->written_uncompressed);
+                if (r < 0)
+                        return pull_job_finish(j, r);
+        }
+
         /* Do a couple of finishing disk operations, but only if we are the sole owner of the file (i.e. no
          * offset is specified, which indicates we only own the file partially) */
 
diff --git a/src/import/pull-job.h b/src/import/pull-job.h
index 2314cc2452..2be0158b28 100644
--- a/src/import/pull-job.h
+++ b/src/import/pull-job.h
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ typedef struct PullJob {
 
         bool sync;
         bool force_memory;
+        bool zero_fill;
 
         char *authentication_challenge;
 } PullJob;
diff --git a/src/import/pull-raw.c b/src/import/pull-raw.c
index 6a61a38960..309e12b01e 100644
--- a/src/import/pull-raw.c
+++ b/src/import/pull-raw.c
@@ -810,6 +810,7 @@ int raw_pull_start(
         assert((verify < 0) || !iovec_is_set(checksum));
         assert(!(flags & ~IMPORT_PULL_FLAGS_MASK_RAW));
         assert(offset == UINT64_MAX || FLAGS_SET(flags, IMPORT_DIRECT));
+        assert(!FLAGS_SET(flags, IMPORT_ZERO_FILL) || (offset != UINT64_MAX && size_max != UINT64_MAX));
         assert(!(flags & (IMPORT_PULL_SETTINGS|IMPORT_PULL_ROOTHASH|IMPORT_PULL_ROOTHASH_SIGNATURE|IMPORT_PULL_VERITY)) || !(flags & IMPORT_DIRECT));
         assert(!(flags & (IMPORT_PULL_SETTINGS|IMPORT_PULL_ROOTHASH|IMPORT_PULL_ROOTHASH_SIGNATURE|IMPORT_PULL_VERITY)) || !iovec_is_set(checksum));
 
@@ -859,6 +860,7 @@ int raw_pull_start(
                 p->raw_job->uncompressed_max = size_max;
         if (offset != UINT64_MAX)
                 p->raw_job->offset = p->offset = offset;
+        p->raw_job->zero_fill = FLAGS_SET(flags, IMPORT_ZERO_FILL);
 
         if (!FLAGS_SET(flags, IMPORT_DIRECT)) {
                 r = pull_find_old_etags(url, p->image_root, DT_REG, ".raw-", ".raw", &p->raw_job->old_etags);
diff --git a/src/import/pull.c b/src/import/pull.c
index 7f5a90196f..a6e1b1694f 100644
--- a/src/import/pull.c
+++ b/src/import/pull.c
@@ -459,6 +459,13 @@ static int parse_argv(int argc, char *argv[], char ***ret_args) {
                         SET_FLAG(arg_import_flags, IMPORT_SYNC, r);
                         break;
 
+                OPTION_LONG("zero-fill", "BOOL", "Controls whether to fill up the destination range with zeroes"):
+                        r = parse_boolean_argument("--zero-fill=", opts.arg, NULL);
+                        if (r < 0)
+                                return r;
+                        SET_FLAG(arg_import_flags, IMPORT_ZERO_FILL, r);
+                        break;
+
                 OPTION_LONG("offset", "BYTES", "Offset to seek to in destination"): {
                         uint64_t u;
 
@@ -523,6 +530,9 @@ static int parse_argv(int argc, char *argv[], char ***ret_args) {
         if (arg_offset != UINT64_MAX && !FLAGS_SET(arg_import_flags, IMPORT_DIRECT))
                 return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL), "File offset only supported in --direct mode.");
 
+        if (FLAGS_SET(arg_import_flags, IMPORT_ZERO_FILL) && (arg_offset == UINT64_MAX || arg_size_max == UINT64_MAX))
+                return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL), "Zero filling only supported if both --offset= and --size-max= are specified.");
+
         if (iovec_is_set(&arg_checksum) && (arg_import_flags & (IMPORT_PULL_SETTINGS|IMPORT_PULL_ROOTHASH|IMPORT_PULL_ROOTHASH_SIGNATURE|IMPORT_PULL_VERITY)) != 0)
                 return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL), "Literal checksum verification only supported if no associated files are downloaded.");