diff --git a/docs/formatstorage.html.in b/docs/formatstorage.html.in
index 1cd82b4565a99f69be0cb876df13558191e7e340..789701c18c5dd1848151f6580f249fa577cfce88 100644
--- a/docs/formatstorage.html.in
+++ b/docs/formatstorage.html.in
@@ -385,6 +385,7 @@
             <label>virt_image_t</label>
           </permissions>
           <compat>1.1</compat>
+          <nocow/>
           <features>
             <lazy_refcounts/>
           </features>
@@ -424,6 +425,12 @@
         1.1 is used. If omitted, qemu-img default is used.
         <span class="since">Since 1.1.0</span>
       </dd>
+      <dt><code>nocow</code></dt>
+      <dd>Turn off COW of the newly created volume. So far, this is only valid
+        for a file image in btrfs file system. It will improve performance when
+        the file image is used in VM. To create non-raw file images, it
+        requires QEMU version since 2.1. <span class="since">Since 1.2.7</span>
+      </dd>
       <dt><code>features</code></dt>
       <dd>Format-specific features. Only used for <code>qcow2</code> now.
         Valid sub-elements are:
diff --git a/docs/schemas/storagevol.rng b/docs/schemas/storagevol.rng
index 3798476f0354c48bcca4be5bc224c6b937018d29..1b2d4cccad79e3120ce5c18d3c028f620a5f6958 100644
--- a/docs/schemas/storagevol.rng
+++ b/docs/schemas/storagevol.rng
@@ -137,6 +137,11 @@
         <optional>
           <ref name='compat'/>
         </optional>
+        <optional>
+          <element name='nocow'>
+            <empty/>
+          </element>
+        </optional>
         <optional>
           <ref name='fileFormatFeatures'/>
         </optional>
diff --git a/src/conf/storage_conf.c b/src/conf/storage_conf.c
index c79aebd0a4234a83811592e5288ca00f188b1da3..69333f574aaed0c72ec3d2d31b238350e979de6d 100644
--- a/src/conf/storage_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/storage_conf.c
@@ -1299,6 +1299,9 @@ virStorageVolDefParseXML(virStoragePoolDefPtr pool,
         virStringFreeList(version);
     }
 
+    if (virXPathNode("./target/nocow", ctxt))
+        ret->target.nocow = true;
+
     if (options->featureFromString && virXPathNode("./target/features", ctxt)) {
         if ((n = virXPathNodeSet("./target/features/*", ctxt, &nodes)) < 0)
             goto error;
diff --git a/src/storage/storage_backend.c b/src/storage/storage_backend.c
index fdcaadad7767900178f79bbe75636c233213c64c..dc835d36bad0832a47690f51a6bc2b449cc36524 100644
--- a/src/storage/storage_backend.c
+++ b/src/storage/storage_backend.c
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@
 #ifdef __linux__
 # include <sys/ioctl.h>
 # include <linux/fs.h>
+# ifndef FS_NOCOW_FL
+#  define FS_NOCOW_FL                     0x00800000 /* Do not cow file */
+# endif
 #endif
 
 #if WITH_SELINUX
@@ -453,6 +456,21 @@ virStorageBackendCreateRaw(virConnectPtr conn ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
         goto cleanup;
     }
 
+    if (vol->target.nocow) {
+#ifdef __linux__
+        int attr;
+
+        /* Set NOCOW flag. This is an optimisation for btrfs.
+         * The FS_IOC_SETFLAGS ioctl return value will be ignored since any
+         * failure of this operation should not block the left work.
+         */
+        if (ioctl(fd, FS_IOC_GETFLAGS, &attr) == 0) {
+            attr |= FS_NOCOW_FL;
+            ioctl(fd, FS_IOC_SETFLAGS, &attr);
+        }
+#endif
+    }
+
     if ((ret = createRawFile(fd, vol, inputvol)) < 0)
         /* createRawFile already reported the exact error. */
         ret = -1;
@@ -718,6 +736,7 @@ virStorageBackendCreateQemuImgOpts(char **opts,
                                    bool preallocate,
                                    int format,
                                    const char *compat,
+                                   bool nocow,
                                    virBitmapPtr features)
 {
     virBuffer buf = VIR_BUFFER_INITIALIZER;
@@ -730,6 +749,8 @@ virStorageBackendCreateQemuImgOpts(char **opts,
         virBufferAddLit(&buf, "encryption=on,");
     if (preallocate)
         virBufferAddLit(&buf, "preallocation=metadata,");
+    if (nocow)
+        virBufferAddLit(&buf, "nocow=on,");
 
     if (compat)
         virBufferAsprintf(&buf, "compat=%s,", compat);
@@ -950,6 +971,7 @@ virStorageBackendCreateQemuImgCmd(virConnectPtr conn,
                                                do_encryption, preallocate,
                                                vol->target.format,
                                                compat,
+                                               vol->target.nocow,
                                                vol->target.features) < 0) {
             virCommandFree(cmd);
             return NULL;
diff --git a/src/util/virstoragefile.h b/src/util/virstoragefile.h
index 0ba746ab7dbbf83db13be025c1b85bdd6f012a2d..c840aa06e249a576b1efe2911c3e75749de735e1 100644
--- a/src/util/virstoragefile.h
+++ b/src/util/virstoragefile.h
@@ -247,6 +247,7 @@ struct _virStorageSource {
                  * pool-specific enum for storage volumes */
     virBitmapPtr features;
     char *compat;
+    bool nocow;
 
     virStoragePermsPtr perms;
     virStorageTimestampsPtr timestamps;