diff --git a/block/io.c b/block/io.c
index cfda7148d8..c3574a4dd6 100644
--- a/block/io.c
+++ b/block/io.c
@@ -971,21 +971,25 @@ err:
 
 /*
  * Forwards an already correctly aligned request to the BlockDriver. This
- * handles copy on read and zeroing after EOF; any other features must be
- * implemented by the caller.
+ * handles copy on read, zeroing after EOF, and fragmentation of large
+ * reads; any other features must be implemented by the caller.
  */
 static int coroutine_fn bdrv_aligned_preadv(BlockDriverState *bs,
     BdrvTrackedRequest *req, int64_t offset, unsigned int bytes,
     int64_t align, QEMUIOVector *qiov, int flags)
 {
     int64_t total_bytes, max_bytes;
-    int ret;
+    int ret = 0;
+    uint64_t bytes_remaining = bytes;
+    int max_transfer;
 
     assert(is_power_of_2(align));
     assert((offset & (align - 1)) == 0);
     assert((bytes & (align - 1)) == 0);
     assert(!qiov || bytes == qiov->size);
     assert((bs->open_flags & BDRV_O_NO_IO) == 0);
+    max_transfer = QEMU_ALIGN_DOWN(MIN_NON_ZERO(bs->bl.max_transfer, INT_MAX),
+                                   align);
 
     /* TODO: We would need a per-BDS .supported_read_flags and
      * potential fallback support, if we ever implement any read flags
@@ -1024,7 +1028,7 @@ static int coroutine_fn bdrv_aligned_preadv(BlockDriverState *bs,
         }
     }
 
-    /* Forward the request to the BlockDriver */
+    /* Forward the request to the BlockDriver, possibly fragmenting it */
     total_bytes = bdrv_getlength(bs);
     if (total_bytes < 0) {
         ret = total_bytes;
@@ -1032,30 +1036,39 @@ static int coroutine_fn bdrv_aligned_preadv(BlockDriverState *bs,
     }
 
     max_bytes = ROUND_UP(MAX(0, total_bytes - offset), align);
-    if (bytes <= max_bytes) {
+    if (bytes <= max_bytes && bytes <= max_transfer) {
         ret = bdrv_driver_preadv(bs, offset, bytes, qiov, 0);
-    } else if (max_bytes > 0) {
-        QEMUIOVector local_qiov;
-
-        qemu_iovec_init(&local_qiov, qiov->niov);
-        qemu_iovec_concat(&local_qiov, qiov, 0, max_bytes);
-
-        ret = bdrv_driver_preadv(bs, offset, max_bytes, &local_qiov, 0);
-
-        qemu_iovec_destroy(&local_qiov);
-    } else {
-        ret = 0;
+        goto out;
     }
 
-    /* Reading beyond end of file is supposed to produce zeroes */
-    if (ret == 0 && total_bytes < offset + bytes) {
-        uint64_t zero_offset = MAX(0, total_bytes - offset);
-        uint64_t zero_bytes = offset + bytes - zero_offset;
-        qemu_iovec_memset(qiov, zero_offset, 0, zero_bytes);
+    while (bytes_remaining) {
+        int num;
+
+        if (max_bytes) {
+            QEMUIOVector local_qiov;
+
+            num = MIN(bytes_remaining, MIN(max_bytes, max_transfer));
+            assert(num);
+            qemu_iovec_init(&local_qiov, qiov->niov);
+            qemu_iovec_concat(&local_qiov, qiov, bytes - bytes_remaining, num);
+
+            ret = bdrv_driver_preadv(bs, offset + bytes - bytes_remaining,
+                                     num, &local_qiov, 0);
+            max_bytes -= num;
+            qemu_iovec_destroy(&local_qiov);
+        } else {
+            num = bytes_remaining;
+            ret = qemu_iovec_memset(qiov, bytes - bytes_remaining, 0,
+                                    bytes_remaining);
+        }
+        if (ret < 0) {
+            goto out;
+        }
+        bytes_remaining -= num;
     }
 
 out:
-    return ret;
+    return ret < 0 ? ret : 0;
 }
 
 /*