diff --git a/cmd/ctr/commands/content/fetch.go b/cmd/ctr/commands/content/fetch.go
index b45a5c76f..d7ccb7ffa 100644
--- a/cmd/ctr/commands/content/fetch.go
+++ b/cmd/ctr/commands/content/fetch.go
@@ -68,8 +68,13 @@ Most of this is experimental and there are few leaps to make this work.`,
 			Usage: "Pull content from all platforms",
 		},
 		cli.BoolFlag{
-			Name:  "all-metadata",
-			Usage: "Pull metadata for all platforms",
+			Name:   "all-metadata",
+			Usage:  "(Deprecated: use skip-metadata) Pull metadata for all platforms",
+			Hidden: true,
+		},
+		cli.BoolFlag{
+			Name:  "skip-metadata",
+			Usage: "Skips metadata for unused platforms (Image may be unable to be pushed without metadata)",
 		},
 		cli.BoolFlag{
 			Name:  "metadata-only",
@@ -141,7 +146,7 @@ func NewFetchConfig(ctx context.Context, clicontext *cli.Context) (*FetchConfig,
 		config.AllMetadata = true
 		// Any with an empty set is None
 		config.PlatformMatcher = platforms.Any()
-	} else if clicontext.Bool("all-metadata") {
+	} else if !clicontext.Bool("skip-metadata") {
 		config.AllMetadata = true
 	}
 
diff --git a/cmd/ctr/commands/images/pull.go b/cmd/ctr/commands/images/pull.go
index 24ff6d404..09b35d702 100644
--- a/cmd/ctr/commands/images/pull.go
+++ b/cmd/ctr/commands/images/pull.go
@@ -63,8 +63,13 @@ command. As part of this process, we do the following:
 			Usage: "Pull content and metadata from all platforms",
 		},
 		cli.BoolFlag{
-			Name:  "all-metadata",
-			Usage: "Pull metadata for all platforms",
+			Name:   "all-metadata",
+			Usage:  "(Deprecated: use skip-metadata) Pull metadata for all platforms",
+			Hidden: true,
+		},
+		cli.BoolFlag{
+			Name:  "skip-metadata",
+			Usage: "Skips metadata for unused platforms (Image may be unable to be pushed without metadata)",
 		},
 		cli.BoolFlag{
 			Name:  "print-chainid",
@@ -123,7 +128,7 @@ command. As part of this process, we do the following:
 				// Any with an empty set is None
 				// TODO: Specify way to specify not default platform
 				// config.PlatformMatcher = platforms.Any()
-			} else if context.Bool("all-metadata") {
+			} else if !context.Bool("skip-metadata") {
 				sopts = append(sopts, image.WithAllMetadata)
 			}