diff --git a/hcloudimages/client.go b/hcloudimages/client.go
index 6311445..2b9559d 100644
--- a/hcloudimages/client.go
+++ b/hcloudimages/client.go
@@ -543,7 +543,10 @@ func assembleCommand(options UploadOptions) (string, error) {
 
 	switch options.ImageFormat {
 	case FormatRaw:
-		cmd += "dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M"
+		// With conv=sparse dd will skip any zero blocks and not write them to the disk, this makes it faster if you
+		// have a large raw image with multiple (nearly) empty but large partitions.
+		// For example Flatcar has ~12 GB, with ~90% being zero blocks.
+		cmd += "dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M conv=sparse"
 	case FormatQCOW2:
 		cmd += "tee image.qcow2 > /dev/null && qemu-img dd -f qcow2 -O raw if=image.qcow2 of=/dev/sda bs=4M"
 	default:
diff --git a/hcloudimages/client_test.go b/hcloudimages/client_test.go
index d1d1d33..a9aead8 100644
--- a/hcloudimages/client_test.go
+++ b/hcloudimages/client_test.go
@@ -24,21 +24,21 @@ func TestAssembleCommand(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			name:    "local raw",
 			options: UploadOptions{},
-			want:    "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M && sync'",
+			want:    "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M conv=sparse && sync'",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "remote raw",
 			options: UploadOptions{
 				ImageURL: mustParseURL("https://example.com/image.xz"),
 			},
-			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && wget --no-verbose -O - \"https://example.com/image.xz\" | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M && sync'",
+			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && wget --no-verbose -O - \"https://example.com/image.xz\" | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M conv=sparse && sync'",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "local xz",
 			options: UploadOptions{
 				ImageCompression: CompressionXZ,
 			},
-			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && xz -cd | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M && sync'",
+			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && xz -cd | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M conv=sparse && sync'",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "remote xz",
@@ -46,14 +46,14 @@ func TestAssembleCommand(t *testing.T) {
 				ImageURL:         mustParseURL("https://example.com/image.xz"),
 				ImageCompression: CompressionXZ,
 			},
-			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && wget --no-verbose -O - \"https://example.com/image.xz\" | xz -cd | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M && sync'",
+			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && wget --no-verbose -O - \"https://example.com/image.xz\" | xz -cd | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M conv=sparse && sync'",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "local zstd",
 			options: UploadOptions{
 				ImageCompression: CompressionZSTD,
 			},
-			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && zstd -cd | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M && sync'",
+			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && zstd -cd | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M conv=sparse && sync'",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "remote zstd",
@@ -61,14 +61,14 @@ func TestAssembleCommand(t *testing.T) {
 				ImageURL:         mustParseURL("https://example.com/image.zst"),
 				ImageCompression: CompressionZSTD,
 			},
-			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && wget --no-verbose -O - \"https://example.com/image.zst\" | zstd -cd | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M && sync'",
+			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && wget --no-verbose -O - \"https://example.com/image.zst\" | zstd -cd | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M conv=sparse && sync'",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "local bz2",
 			options: UploadOptions{
 				ImageCompression: CompressionBZ2,
 			},
-			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && bzip2 -cd | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M && sync'",
+			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && bzip2 -cd | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M conv=sparse && sync'",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "remote bz2",
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ func TestAssembleCommand(t *testing.T) {
 				ImageURL:         mustParseURL("https://example.com/image.bz2"),
 				ImageCompression: CompressionBZ2,
 			},
-			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && wget --no-verbose -O - \"https://example.com/image.bz2\" | bzip2 -cd | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M && sync'",
+			want: "bash -c 'set -euo pipefail && wget --no-verbose -O - \"https://example.com/image.bz2\" | bzip2 -cd | dd of=/dev/sda bs=4M conv=sparse && sync'",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "local qcow2",