diff --git a/block/qcow2-cluster.c b/block/qcow2-cluster.c
index 4b5fc8c4a7..a677ba9f5c 100644
--- a/block/qcow2-cluster.c
+++ b/block/qcow2-cluster.c
@@ -1797,8 +1797,15 @@ int qcow2_cluster_zeroize(BlockDriverState *bs, uint64_t offset,
     assert(QEMU_IS_ALIGNED(end_offset, s->cluster_size) ||
            end_offset >= bs->total_sectors << BDRV_SECTOR_BITS);
 
-    /* The zero flag is only supported by version 3 and newer */
+    /*
+     * The zero flag is only supported by version 3 and newer. However, if we
+     * have no backing file, we can resort to discard in version 2.
+     */
     if (s->qcow_version < 3) {
+        if (!bs->backing) {
+            return qcow2_cluster_discard(bs, offset, bytes,
+                                         QCOW2_DISCARD_REQUEST, false);
+        }
         return -ENOTSUP;
     }