diff --git a/block/qcow2-threads.c b/block/qcow2-threads.c
index a68126f291..7dbaf53489 100644
--- a/block/qcow2-threads.c
+++ b/block/qcow2-threads.c
@@ -74,7 +74,9 @@ typedef struct Qcow2CompressData {
 } Qcow2CompressData;
 
 /*
- * qcow2_compress()
+ * qcow2_zlib_compress()
+ *
+ * Compress @src_size bytes of data using zlib compression method
  *
  * @dest - destination buffer, @dest_size bytes
  * @src - source buffer, @src_size bytes
@@ -83,8 +85,8 @@ typedef struct Qcow2CompressData {
  *          -ENOMEM destination buffer is not enough to store compressed data
  *          -EIO    on any other error
  */
-static ssize_t qcow2_compress(void *dest, size_t dest_size,
-                              const void *src, size_t src_size)
+static ssize_t qcow2_zlib_compress(void *dest, size_t dest_size,
+                                   const void *src, size_t src_size)
 {
     ssize_t ret;
     z_stream strm;
@@ -119,10 +121,10 @@ static ssize_t qcow2_compress(void *dest, size_t dest_size,
 }
 
 /*
- * qcow2_decompress()
+ * qcow2_zlib_decompress()
  *
  * Decompress some data (not more than @src_size bytes) to produce exactly
- * @dest_size bytes.
+ * @dest_size bytes using zlib compression method
  *
  * @dest - destination buffer, @dest_size bytes
  * @src - source buffer, @src_size bytes
@@ -130,8 +132,8 @@ static ssize_t qcow2_compress(void *dest, size_t dest_size,
  * Returns: 0 on success
  *          -EIO on fail
  */
-static ssize_t qcow2_decompress(void *dest, size_t dest_size,
-                                const void *src, size_t src_size)
+static ssize_t qcow2_zlib_decompress(void *dest, size_t dest_size,
+                                     const void *src, size_t src_size)
 {
     int ret;
     z_stream strm;
@@ -191,20 +193,67 @@ qcow2_co_do_compress(BlockDriverState *bs, void *dest, size_t dest_size,
     return arg.ret;
 }
 
+/*
+ * qcow2_co_compress()
+ *
+ * Compress @src_size bytes of data using the compression
+ * method defined by the image compression type
+ *
+ * @dest - destination buffer, @dest_size bytes
+ * @src - source buffer, @src_size bytes
+ *
+ * Returns: compressed size on success
+ *          a negative error code on failure
+ */
 ssize_t coroutine_fn
 qcow2_co_compress(BlockDriverState *bs, void *dest, size_t dest_size,
                   const void *src, size_t src_size)
 {
-    return qcow2_co_do_compress(bs, dest, dest_size, src, src_size,
-                                qcow2_compress);
+    BDRVQcow2State *s = bs->opaque;
+    Qcow2CompressFunc fn;
+
+    switch (s->compression_type) {
+    case QCOW2_COMPRESSION_TYPE_ZLIB:
+        fn = qcow2_zlib_compress;
+        break;
+
+    default:
+        abort();
+    }
+
+    return qcow2_co_do_compress(bs, dest, dest_size, src, src_size, fn);
 }
 
+/*
+ * qcow2_co_decompress()
+ *
+ * Decompress some data (not more than @src_size bytes) to produce exactly
+ * @dest_size bytes using the compression method defined by the image
+ * compression type
+ *
+ * @dest - destination buffer, @dest_size bytes
+ * @src - source buffer, @src_size bytes
+ *
+ * Returns: 0 on success
+ *          a negative error code on failure
+ */
 ssize_t coroutine_fn
 qcow2_co_decompress(BlockDriverState *bs, void *dest, size_t dest_size,
                     const void *src, size_t src_size)
 {
-    return qcow2_co_do_compress(bs, dest, dest_size, src, src_size,
-                                qcow2_decompress);
+    BDRVQcow2State *s = bs->opaque;
+    Qcow2CompressFunc fn;
+
+    switch (s->compression_type) {
+    case QCOW2_COMPRESSION_TYPE_ZLIB:
+        fn = qcow2_zlib_decompress;
+        break;
+
+    default:
+        abort();
+    }
+
+    return qcow2_co_do_compress(bs, dest, dest_size, src, src_size, fn);
 }