diff --git a/include/ziparchive/zip_archive.h b/include/ziparchive/zip_archive.h
index fc845a44e..54946fc93 100644
--- a/include/ziparchive/zip_archive.h
+++ b/include/ziparchive/zip_archive.h
@@ -195,7 +195,8 @@ void EndIteration(void* cookie);
  * Uncompress and write an entry to an open file identified by |fd|.
  * |entry->uncompressed_length| bytes will be written to the file at
  * its current offset, and the file will be truncated at the end of
- * the uncompressed data.
+ * the uncompressed data (no truncation if |fd| references a block
+ * device).
  *
  * Returns 0 on success and negative values on failure.
  */
diff --git a/libziparchive/zip_archive.cc b/libziparchive/zip_archive.cc
index 23cbff384..c2055b7f5 100644
--- a/libziparchive/zip_archive.cc
+++ b/libziparchive/zip_archive.cc
@@ -796,7 +796,8 @@ class FileWriter : public Writer {
   // Creates a FileWriter for |fd| and prepare to write |entry| to it,
   // guaranteeing that the file descriptor is valid and that there's enough
   // space on the volume to write out the entry completely and that the file
-  // is truncated to the correct length.
+  // is truncated to the correct length (no truncation if |fd| references a
+  // block device).
   //
   // Returns a valid FileWriter on success, |nullptr| if an error occurred.
   static std::unique_ptr<FileWriter> Create(int fd, const ZipEntry* entry) {
@@ -829,13 +830,22 @@ class FileWriter : public Writer {
     }
 #endif  // __linux__
 
-    result = TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY(ftruncate(fd, declared_length + current_offset));
-    if (result == -1) {
-      ALOGW("Zip: unable to truncate file to %" PRId64 ": %s",
-            static_cast<int64_t>(declared_length + current_offset), strerror(errno));
+    struct stat sb;
+    if (fstat(fd, &sb) == -1) {
+      ALOGW("Zip: unable to fstat file: %s", strerror(errno));
       return std::unique_ptr<FileWriter>(nullptr);
     }
 
+    // Block device doesn't support ftruncate(2).
+    if (!S_ISBLK(sb.st_mode)) {
+      result = TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY(ftruncate(fd, declared_length + current_offset));
+      if (result == -1) {
+        ALOGW("Zip: unable to truncate file to %" PRId64 ": %s",
+              static_cast<int64_t>(declared_length + current_offset), strerror(errno));
+        return std::unique_ptr<FileWriter>(nullptr);
+      }
+    }
+
     return std::unique_ptr<FileWriter>(new FileWriter(fd, declared_length));
   }