diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 1396661ca95d5f652a518ee48dc17f5c2c10a863..0767c66490367bc475878deb6f76b0f5f591ef85 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -3555,7 +3555,8 @@ qemuBuildNicDevStr(virDomainDefPtr def,
                    int vlan,
                    unsigned int bootindex,
                    size_t vhostfdSize,
-                   virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
+                   virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                   unsigned int mtu)
 {
     virBuffer buf = VIR_BUFFER_INITIALIZER;
     const char *nic = net->model;
@@ -3679,13 +3680,23 @@ qemuBuildNicDevStr(virDomainDefPtr def,
         virBufferAsprintf(&buf, ",rx_queue_size=%u", net->driver.virtio.rx_queue_size);
     }
 
-    if (usingVirtio && net->mtu) {
-        if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_NET_HOST_MTU)) {
-            virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                           _("setting MTU is not supported with this QEMU binary"));
-            goto error;
+    if (usingVirtio && mtu) {
+        if (virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_VIRTIO_NET_HOST_MTU)) {
+
+            virBufferAsprintf(&buf, ",host_mtu=%u", mtu);
+
+        } else {
+            /* log an error if mtu was requested specifically for this
+             * interface, otherwise, if it's just what was reported by
+             * the attached network, ignore it.
+             */
+            if (net->mtu) {
+                virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
+                               _("setting MTU is not supported with "
+                                 "this QEMU binary"));
+                goto error;
+            }
         }
-        virBufferAsprintf(&buf, ",host_mtu=%u", net->mtu);
     }
 
     if (vlan == -1)
@@ -8042,7 +8053,7 @@ qemuBuildVhostuserCommandLine(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     VIR_FREE(netdev);
 
     if (!(nic = qemuBuildNicDevStr(def, net, -1, bootindex,
-                                   queues, qemuCaps))) {
+                                   queues, qemuCaps, net->mtu))) {
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
                        "%s", _("Error generating NIC -device string"));
         goto error;
@@ -8088,6 +8099,7 @@ qemuBuildInterfaceCommandLine(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     virDomainNetType actualType = virDomainNetGetActualType(net);
     virNetDevBandwidthPtr actualBandwidth;
     size_t i;
+    unsigned int mtu = net->mtu;
 
 
     if (!bootindex)
@@ -8142,7 +8154,7 @@ qemuBuildInterfaceCommandLine(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
         memset(tapfd, -1, tapfdSize * sizeof(tapfd[0]));
 
         if (qemuInterfaceBridgeConnect(def, driver, net,
-                                       tapfd, &tapfdSize) < 0)
+                                       tapfd, &tapfdSize, &mtu) < 0)
             goto cleanup;
         break;
 
@@ -8322,7 +8334,7 @@ qemuBuildInterfaceCommandLine(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     }
     if (qemuDomainSupportsNicdev(def, net)) {
         if (!(nic = qemuBuildNicDevStr(def, net, vlan, bootindex,
-                                       vhostfdSize, qemuCaps)))
+                                       vhostfdSize, qemuCaps, mtu)))
             goto cleanup;
         virCommandAddArgList(cmd, "-device", nic, NULL);
     } else {
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.h b/src/qemu/qemu_command.h
index 3bcfdc6e4fd252b0333431a67c8c76237d18df04..69fe84613961989923accb11359353d88f798297 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.h
@@ -101,7 +101,8 @@ char *qemuBuildNicDevStr(virDomainDefPtr def,
                          int vlan,
                          unsigned int bootindex,
                          size_t vhostfdSize,
-                         virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps);
+                         virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
+                         unsigned int mtu);
 
 char *qemuDeviceDriveHostAlias(virDomainDiskDefPtr disk);
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
index 8a4d20dba5cdc443694b4726c75b3429165dee87..e272df35607977f50635f36aa7c81adbaedabbd3 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
@@ -969,6 +969,7 @@ qemuDomainAttachNetDevice(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     bool charDevPlugged = false;
     bool netdevPlugged = false;
     bool hostPlugged = false;
+    unsigned int mtu = net->mtu;
 
     /* preallocate new slot for device */
     if (VIR_REALLOC_N(vm->def->nets, vm->def->nnets + 1) < 0)
@@ -1025,7 +1026,7 @@ qemuDomainAttachNetDevice(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
             goto cleanup;
         memset(vhostfd, -1, sizeof(*vhostfd) * vhostfdSize);
         if (qemuInterfaceBridgeConnect(vm->def, driver, net,
-                                       tapfd, &tapfdSize) < 0)
+                                       tapfd, &tapfdSize, &mtu) < 0)
             goto cleanup;
         iface_connected = true;
         if (qemuInterfaceOpenVhostNet(vm->def, net, priv->qemuCaps,
@@ -1236,7 +1237,7 @@ qemuDomainAttachNetDevice(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
         VIR_FORCE_CLOSE(vhostfd[i]);
 
     if (!(nicstr = qemuBuildNicDevStr(vm->def, net, vlan, 0,
-                                      queueSize, priv->qemuCaps)))
+                                      queueSize, priv->qemuCaps, mtu)))
         goto try_remove;
 
     qemuDomainObjEnterMonitor(driver, vm);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_interface.c b/src/qemu/qemu_interface.c
index ce448d24330279a2c9fd85a6f715cf665e6f595c..c5dca60f1f654dfbff2335469f3bce87791f4707 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_interface.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_interface.c
@@ -503,7 +503,8 @@ qemuInterfaceBridgeConnect(virDomainDefPtr def,
                            virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                            virDomainNetDefPtr net,
                            int *tapfd,
-                           size_t *tapfdSize)
+                           size_t *tapfdSize,
+                           unsigned int *mtu)
 {
     const char *brname;
     int ret = -1;
@@ -544,7 +545,7 @@ qemuInterfaceBridgeConnect(virDomainDefPtr def,
                                            def->uuid, tunpath, tapfd, *tapfdSize,
                                            virDomainNetGetActualVirtPortProfile(net),
                                            virDomainNetGetActualVlan(net),
-                                           0, NULL,
+                                           net->mtu, mtu,
                                            tap_create_flags) < 0) {
             virDomainAuditNetDevice(def, net, tunpath, false);
             goto cleanup;
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_interface.h b/src/qemu/qemu_interface.h
index a7faa0b3da71a9e7c8328c3a2aaf252c91cebf91..ba74ac2cfe4b5fbcfb9e9acae8a722f646b59db5 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_interface.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_interface.h
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ int qemuInterfaceBridgeConnect(virDomainDefPtr def,
                                virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                                virDomainNetDefPtr net,
                                int *tapfd,
-                               size_t *tapfdSize)
+                               size_t *tapfdSize,
+                               unsigned int *mtu)
     ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2);
 
 int qemuInterfaceOpenVhostNet(virDomainDefPtr def,