diff --git a/backend/local/local.go b/backend/local/local.go
index bcd6d9b68..86de84fa4 100644
--- a/backend/local/local.go
+++ b/backend/local/local.go
@@ -118,6 +118,16 @@ Windows/macOS and case sensitive for everything else.  Use this flag
 to override the default choice.`,
 			Default:  false,
 			Advanced: true,
+		}, {
+			Name: "no_sparse",
+			Help: `Disable sparse files for multi-thread downloads
+
+On Windows platforms rclone will make sparse files when doing
+multi-thread downloads. This avoids long pauses on large files where
+the OS zeros the file. However sparse files may be undesirable as they
+cause disk fragmentation and can be slow to work with.`,
+			Default:  false,
+			Advanced: true,
 		}, {
 			Name:     config.ConfigEncoding,
 			Help:     config.ConfigEncodingHelp,
@@ -139,6 +149,7 @@ type Options struct {
 	OneFileSystem     bool                 `config:"one_file_system"`
 	CaseSensitive     bool                 `config:"case_sensitive"`
 	CaseInsensitive   bool                 `config:"case_insensitive"`
+	NoSparse          bool                 `config:"no_sparse"`
 	Enc               encoder.MultiEncoder `config:"encoding"`
 }
 
@@ -1095,6 +1106,8 @@ func (o *Object) Update(ctx context.Context, in io.Reader, src fs.ObjectInfo, op
 	return o.lstat()
 }
 
+var sparseWarning sync.Once
+
 // OpenWriterAt opens with a handle for random access writes
 //
 // Pass in the remote desired and the size if known.
@@ -1122,10 +1135,15 @@ func (f *Fs) OpenWriterAt(ctx context.Context, remote string, size int64) (fs.Wr
 	if err != nil {
 		fs.Debugf(o, "Failed to pre-allocate: %v", err)
 	}
-	// Set the file to be a sparse file (important on Windows)
-	err = file.SetSparse(out)
-	if err != nil {
-		fs.Debugf(o, "Failed to set sparse: %v", err)
+	if !f.opt.NoSparse && file.SetSparseImplemented {
+		sparseWarning.Do(func() {
+			fs.Infof(nil, "Writing sparse files: use --local-no-sparse or --multi-thread-streams 0 to disable")
+		})
+		// Set the file to be a sparse file (important on Windows)
+		err = file.SetSparse(out)
+		if err != nil {
+			fs.Debugf(o, "Failed to set sparse: %v", err)
+		}
 	}
 
 	return out, nil
diff --git a/docs/content/docs.md b/docs/content/docs.md
index 2d64733e3..3c8f1f0a6 100644
--- a/docs/content/docs.md
+++ b/docs/content/docs.md
@@ -844,6 +844,12 @@ with any source.
 as they are faster without unless `--multi-thread-streams` is set
 explicitly.
 
+**NB** on Windows using multi-thread downloads will cause the
+resulting files to be [sparse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparse_file).
+Use `--local-no-sparse` to disable sparse files (which may cause long
+delays at the start of downloads) or disable multi-thread downloads
+with `--multi-thread-streams 0`
+
 ### --multi-thread-streams=N ###
 
 When using multi thread downloads (see above `--multi-thread-cutoff`)