diff --git a/block/raw-posix.c b/block/raw-posix.c
index 6ed7547392..166e9d1ad5 100644
--- a/block/raw-posix.c
+++ b/block/raw-posix.c
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ typedef struct BDRVRawState {
     bool has_discard:1;
     bool has_write_zeroes:1;
     bool discard_zeroes:1;
+    bool use_linux_aio:1;
     bool has_fallocate;
     bool needs_alignment;
 } BDRVRawState;
@@ -367,18 +368,6 @@ static void raw_parse_flags(int bdrv_flags, int *open_flags)
     }
 }
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_LINUX_AIO
-static bool raw_use_aio(int bdrv_flags)
-{
-    /*
-     * Currently Linux do AIO only for files opened with O_DIRECT
-     * specified so check NOCACHE flag too
-     */
-    return (bdrv_flags & (BDRV_O_NOCACHE|BDRV_O_NATIVE_AIO)) ==
-                         (BDRV_O_NOCACHE|BDRV_O_NATIVE_AIO);
-}
-#endif
-
 static void raw_parse_filename(const char *filename, QDict *options,
                                Error **errp)
 {
@@ -399,6 +388,11 @@ static QemuOptsList raw_runtime_opts = {
             .type = QEMU_OPT_STRING,
             .help = "File name of the image",
         },
+        {
+            .name = "aio",
+            .type = QEMU_OPT_STRING,
+            .help = "host AIO implementation (threads, native)",
+        },
         { /* end of list */ }
     },
 };
@@ -410,6 +404,7 @@ static int raw_open_common(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options,
     QemuOpts *opts;
     Error *local_err = NULL;
     const char *filename = NULL;
+    BlockdevAioOptions aio, aio_default;
     int fd, ret;
     struct stat st;
 
@@ -429,6 +424,18 @@ static int raw_open_common(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options,
         goto fail;
     }
 
+    aio_default = (bdrv_flags & BDRV_O_NATIVE_AIO)
+                  ? BLOCKDEV_AIO_OPTIONS_NATIVE
+                  : BLOCKDEV_AIO_OPTIONS_THREADS;
+    aio = qapi_enum_parse(BlockdevAioOptions_lookup, qemu_opt_get(opts, "aio"),
+                          BLOCKDEV_AIO_OPTIONS__MAX, aio_default, &local_err);
+    if (local_err) {
+        error_propagate(errp, local_err);
+        ret = -EINVAL;
+        goto fail;
+    }
+    s->use_linux_aio = (aio == BLOCKDEV_AIO_OPTIONS_NATIVE);
+
     s->open_flags = open_flags;
     raw_parse_flags(bdrv_flags, &s->open_flags);
 
@@ -444,14 +451,15 @@ static int raw_open_common(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options,
     s->fd = fd;
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_LINUX_AIO
-    if (!raw_use_aio(bdrv_flags) && (bdrv_flags & BDRV_O_NATIVE_AIO)) {
+     /* Currently Linux does AIO only for files opened with O_DIRECT */
+    if (s->use_linux_aio && !(s->open_flags & O_DIRECT)) {
         error_setg(errp, "aio=native was specified, but it requires "
                          "cache.direct=on, which was not specified.");
         ret = -EINVAL;
         goto fail;
     }
 #else
-    if (bdrv_flags & BDRV_O_NATIVE_AIO) {
+    if (s->use_linux_aio) {
         error_setg(errp, "aio=native was specified, but is not supported "
                          "in this build.");
         ret = -EINVAL;
@@ -1256,7 +1264,7 @@ static int coroutine_fn raw_co_prw(BlockDriverState *bs, uint64_t offset,
         if (!bdrv_qiov_is_aligned(bs, qiov)) {
             type |= QEMU_AIO_MISALIGNED;
 #ifdef CONFIG_LINUX_AIO
-        } else if (bs->open_flags & BDRV_O_NATIVE_AIO) {
+        } else if (s->use_linux_aio) {
             LinuxAioState *aio = aio_get_linux_aio(bdrv_get_aio_context(bs));
             assert(qiov->size == bytes);
             return laio_co_submit(bs, aio, s->fd, offset, qiov, type);
@@ -1285,7 +1293,8 @@ static int coroutine_fn raw_co_pwritev(BlockDriverState *bs, uint64_t offset,
 static void raw_aio_plug(BlockDriverState *bs)
 {
 #ifdef CONFIG_LINUX_AIO
-    if (bs->open_flags & BDRV_O_NATIVE_AIO) {
+    BDRVRawState *s = bs->opaque;
+    if (s->use_linux_aio) {
         LinuxAioState *aio = aio_get_linux_aio(bdrv_get_aio_context(bs));
         laio_io_plug(bs, aio);
     }
@@ -1295,7 +1304,8 @@ static void raw_aio_plug(BlockDriverState *bs)
 static void raw_aio_unplug(BlockDriverState *bs)
 {
 #ifdef CONFIG_LINUX_AIO
-    if (bs->open_flags & BDRV_O_NATIVE_AIO) {
+    BDRVRawState *s = bs->opaque;
+    if (s->use_linux_aio) {
         LinuxAioState *aio = aio_get_linux_aio(bdrv_get_aio_context(bs));
         laio_io_unplug(bs, aio);
     }
diff --git a/block/raw-win32.c b/block/raw-win32.c
index 56f45fea9e..734bb105bd 100644
--- a/block/raw-win32.c
+++ b/block/raw-win32.c
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 #include "block/thread-pool.h"
 #include "qemu/iov.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qstring.h"
+#include "qapi/util.h"
 #include <windows.h>
 #include <winioctl.h>
 
@@ -252,7 +253,8 @@ static void raw_probe_alignment(BlockDriverState *bs, Error **errp)
     }
 }
 
-static void raw_parse_flags(int flags, int *access_flags, DWORD *overlapped)
+static void raw_parse_flags(int flags, bool use_aio, int *access_flags,
+                            DWORD *overlapped)
 {
     assert(access_flags != NULL);
     assert(overlapped != NULL);
@@ -264,7 +266,7 @@ static void raw_parse_flags(int flags, int *access_flags, DWORD *overlapped)
     }
 
     *overlapped = FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL;
-    if (flags & BDRV_O_NATIVE_AIO) {
+    if (use_aio) {
         *overlapped |= FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED;
     }
     if (flags & BDRV_O_NOCACHE) {
@@ -292,10 +294,35 @@ static QemuOptsList raw_runtime_opts = {
             .type = QEMU_OPT_STRING,
             .help = "File name of the image",
         },
+        {
+            .name = "aio",
+            .type = QEMU_OPT_STRING,
+            .help = "host AIO implementation (threads, native)",
+        },
         { /* end of list */ }
     },
 };
 
+static bool get_aio_option(QemuOpts *opts, int flags, Error **errp)
+{
+    BlockdevAioOptions aio, aio_default;
+
+    aio_default = (flags & BDRV_O_NATIVE_AIO) ? BLOCKDEV_AIO_OPTIONS_NATIVE
+                                              : BLOCKDEV_AIO_OPTIONS_THREADS;
+    aio = qapi_enum_parse(BlockdevAioOptions_lookup, qemu_opt_get(opts, "aio"),
+                          BLOCKDEV_AIO_OPTIONS__MAX, aio_default, errp);
+
+    switch (aio) {
+    case BLOCKDEV_AIO_OPTIONS_NATIVE:
+        return true;
+    case BLOCKDEV_AIO_OPTIONS_THREADS:
+        return false;
+    default:
+        error_setg(errp, "Invalid AIO option");
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
 static int raw_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options, int flags,
                     Error **errp)
 {
@@ -305,6 +332,7 @@ static int raw_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options, int flags,
     QemuOpts *opts;
     Error *local_err = NULL;
     const char *filename;
+    bool use_aio;
     int ret;
 
     s->type = FTYPE_FILE;
@@ -319,7 +347,14 @@ static int raw_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options, int flags,
 
     filename = qemu_opt_get(opts, "filename");
 
-    raw_parse_flags(flags, &access_flags, &overlapped);
+    use_aio = get_aio_option(opts, flags, &local_err);
+    if (local_err) {
+        error_propagate(errp, local_err);
+        ret = -EINVAL;
+        goto fail;
+    }
+
+    raw_parse_flags(flags, use_aio, &access_flags, &overlapped);
 
     if (filename[0] && filename[1] == ':') {
         snprintf(s->drive_path, sizeof(s->drive_path), "%c:\\", filename[0]);
@@ -346,7 +381,7 @@ static int raw_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options, int flags,
         goto fail;
     }
 
-    if (flags & BDRV_O_NATIVE_AIO) {
+    if (use_aio) {
         s->aio = win32_aio_init();
         if (s->aio == NULL) {
             CloseHandle(s->hfile);
@@ -647,6 +682,7 @@ static int hdev_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options, int flags,
 
     Error *local_err = NULL;
     const char *filename;
+    bool use_aio;
 
     QemuOpts *opts = qemu_opts_create(&raw_runtime_opts, NULL, 0,
                                       &error_abort);
@@ -659,6 +695,16 @@ static int hdev_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options, int flags,
 
     filename = qemu_opt_get(opts, "filename");
 
+    use_aio = get_aio_option(opts, flags, &local_err);
+    if (!local_err && use_aio) {
+        error_setg(&local_err, "AIO is not supported on Windows host devices");
+    }
+    if (local_err) {
+        error_propagate(errp, local_err);
+        ret = -EINVAL;
+        goto done;
+    }
+
     if (strstart(filename, "/dev/cdrom", NULL)) {
         if (find_cdrom(device_name, sizeof(device_name)) < 0) {
             error_setg(errp, "Could not open CD-ROM drive");
@@ -677,7 +723,7 @@ static int hdev_open(BlockDriverState *bs, QDict *options, int flags,
     }
     s->type = find_device_type(bs, filename);
 
-    raw_parse_flags(flags, &access_flags, &overlapped);
+    raw_parse_flags(flags, use_aio, &access_flags, &overlapped);
 
     create_flags = OPEN_EXISTING;
 
diff --git a/qapi/block-core.json b/qapi/block-core.json
index b5fdd426c9..9d797b8fe0 100644
--- a/qapi/block-core.json
+++ b/qapi/block-core.json
@@ -1724,11 +1724,13 @@
 # Driver specific block device options for the file backend.
 #
 # @filename:    path to the image file
+# @aio:         #optional AIO backend (default: threads) (since: 2.8)
 #
 # Since: 1.7
 ##
 { 'struct': 'BlockdevOptionsFile',
-  'data': { 'filename': 'str' } }
+  'data': { 'filename': 'str',
+            '*aio': 'BlockdevAioOptions' } }
 
 ##
 # @BlockdevOptionsNull
@@ -2232,7 +2234,6 @@
 #                 This option is required on the top level of blockdev-add.
 # @discard:       #optional discard-related options (default: ignore)
 # @cache:         #optional cache-related options
-# @aio:           #optional AIO backend (default: threads)
 # @read-only:     #optional whether the block device should be read-only
 #                 (default: false)
 # @detect-zeroes: #optional detect and optimize zero writes (Since 2.1)
@@ -2247,7 +2248,6 @@
             '*node-name': 'str',
             '*discard': 'BlockdevDiscardOptions',
             '*cache': 'BlockdevCacheOptions',
-            '*aio': 'BlockdevAioOptions',
             '*read-only': 'bool',
             '*detect-zeroes': 'BlockdevDetectZeroesOptions' },
   'discriminator': 'driver',
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/087 b/tests/qemu-iotests/087
index 5c04577b36..b1ac71f2b8 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/087
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/087
@@ -117,10 +117,10 @@ run_qemu <<EOF
       "options": {
         "driver": "$IMGFMT",
         "node-name": "disk",
-        "aio": "native",
         "file": {
             "driver": "file",
-            "filename": "$TEST_IMG"
+            "filename": "$TEST_IMG",
+            "aio": "native"
         }
       }
     }