diff --git a/backends/hostmem-file.c b/backends/hostmem-file.c
index fc4ef46d11..e44c319915 100644
--- a/backends/hostmem-file.c
+++ b/backends/hostmem-file.c
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ struct HostMemoryBackendFile {
     HostMemoryBackend parent_obj;
 
     bool share;
+    bool discard_data;
     char *mem_path;
 };
 
@@ -103,16 +104,44 @@ static void file_memory_backend_set_share(Object *o, bool value, Error **errp)
     fb->share = value;
 }
 
+static bool file_memory_backend_get_discard_data(Object *o, Error **errp)
+{
+    return MEMORY_BACKEND_FILE(o)->discard_data;
+}
+
+static void file_memory_backend_set_discard_data(Object *o, bool value,
+                                               Error **errp)
+{
+    MEMORY_BACKEND_FILE(o)->discard_data = value;
+}
+
+static void file_backend_unparent(Object *obj)
+{
+    HostMemoryBackend *backend = MEMORY_BACKEND(obj);
+    HostMemoryBackendFile *fb = MEMORY_BACKEND_FILE(obj);
+
+    if (host_memory_backend_mr_inited(backend) && fb->discard_data) {
+        void *ptr = memory_region_get_ram_ptr(&backend->mr);
+        uint64_t sz = memory_region_size(&backend->mr);
+
+        qemu_madvise(ptr, sz, QEMU_MADV_REMOVE);
+    }
+}
+
 static void
 file_backend_class_init(ObjectClass *oc, void *data)
 {
     HostMemoryBackendClass *bc = MEMORY_BACKEND_CLASS(oc);
 
     bc->alloc = file_backend_memory_alloc;
+    oc->unparent = file_backend_unparent;
 
     object_class_property_add_bool(oc, "share",
         file_memory_backend_get_share, file_memory_backend_set_share,
         &error_abort);
+    object_class_property_add_bool(oc, "discard-data",
+        file_memory_backend_get_discard_data, file_memory_backend_set_discard_data,
+        &error_abort);
     object_class_property_add_str(oc, "mem-path",
         get_mem_path, set_mem_path,
         &error_abort);
diff --git a/qemu-options.hx b/qemu-options.hx
index 600614f6e5..77859a248c 100644
--- a/qemu-options.hx
+++ b/qemu-options.hx
@@ -4182,7 +4182,7 @@ property must be set.  These objects are placed in the
 
 @table @option
 
-@item -object memory-backend-file,id=@var{id},size=@var{size},mem-path=@var{dir},share=@var{on|off}
+@item -object memory-backend-file,id=@var{id},size=@var{size},mem-path=@var{dir},share=@var{on|off},discard-data=@var{on|off}
 
 Creates a memory file backend object, which can be used to back
 the guest RAM with huge pages. The @option{id} parameter is a
@@ -4194,6 +4194,12 @@ the path to either a shared memory or huge page filesystem mount.
 The @option{share} boolean option determines whether the memory
 region is marked as private to QEMU, or shared. The latter allows
 a co-operating external process to access the QEMU memory region.
+Setting the @option{discard-data} boolean option to @var{on}
+indicates that file contents can be destroyed when QEMU exits,
+to avoid unnecessarily flushing data to the backing file.  Note
+that @option{discard-data} is only an optimization, and QEMU
+might not discard file contents if it aborts unexpectedly or is
+terminated using SIGKILL.
 
 @item -object rng-random,id=@var{id},filename=@var{/dev/random}