diff --git a/block/src/lib.rs b/block/src/lib.rs
index ad25f4593..c98f20ae8 100644
--- a/block/src/lib.rs
+++ b/block/src/lib.rs
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ pub mod fixed_vhd;
 pub mod fixed_vhd_async;
 pub mod fixed_vhd_sync;
 pub mod qcow;
+pub mod qcow_async;
 pub(crate) mod qcow_common;
 pub mod qcow_sync;
 #[cfg(feature = "io_uring")]
diff --git a/block/src/qcow_async.rs b/block/src/qcow_async.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..71bc6f474
--- /dev/null
+++ b/block/src/qcow_async.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// Copyright © 2021 Intel Corporation
+//
+// Copyright 2026 The Cloud Hypervisor Authors. All rights reserved.
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 AND BSD-3-Clause
+
+//! QCOW2 async disk backend.
+
+use std::fmt;
+use std::fs::File;
+use std::sync::Arc;
+
+use crate::error::{BlockErrorKind, BlockResult, ErrorOp};
+use crate::qcow::backing::shared_backing_from;
+use crate::qcow::metadata::{BackingRead, QcowMetadata};
+use crate::qcow::qcow_raw_file::QcowRawFile;
+use crate::qcow::{MAX_NESTING_DEPTH, RawFile, parse_qcow};
+
+/// Device level handle for a QCOW2 image.
+///
+/// Owns the parsed metadata and backing file chain. One instance is
+/// created per disk and shared across virtio queues.
+pub struct QcowDiskAsync {
+    metadata: Arc<QcowMetadata>,
+    backing_file: Option<Arc<dyn BackingRead>>,
+    sparse: bool,
+    data_raw_file: QcowRawFile,
+}
+
+impl fmt::Debug for QcowDiskAsync {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        f.debug_struct("QcowDiskAsync")
+            .field("sparse", &self.sparse)
+            .field("has_backing", &self.backing_file.is_some())
+            .finish_non_exhaustive()
+    }
+}
+
+impl QcowDiskAsync {
+    pub fn new(
+        file: File,
+        direct_io: bool,
+        backing_files: bool,
+        sparse: bool,
+    ) -> BlockResult<Self> {
+        let max_nesting_depth = if backing_files { MAX_NESTING_DEPTH } else { 0 };
+        let (inner, backing_file, sparse) =
+            parse_qcow(RawFile::new(file, direct_io), max_nesting_depth, sparse).map_err(|e| {
+                let e = if !backing_files && matches!(e.kind(), BlockErrorKind::Overflow) {
+                    e.with_kind(BlockErrorKind::UnsupportedFeature)
+                } else {
+                    e
+                };
+                e.with_op(ErrorOp::Open)
+            })?;
+        let data_raw_file = inner.raw_file.clone();
+        Ok(QcowDiskAsync {
+            metadata: Arc::new(QcowMetadata::new(inner)),
+            backing_file: backing_file.map(shared_backing_from).transpose()?,
+            sparse,
+            data_raw_file,
+        })
+    }
+}
+
+impl Drop for QcowDiskAsync {
+    fn drop(&mut self) {
+        self.metadata.shutdown();
+    }
+}