diff --git a/block.c b/block.c
index a097772238..30afdcbba6 100644
--- a/block.c
+++ b/block.c
@@ -1309,11 +1309,14 @@ static void bdrv_backing_detach(BdrvChild *c)
 }
 
 static int bdrv_backing_update_filename(BdrvChild *c, BlockDriverState *base,
-                                        const char *filename, Error **errp)
+                                        const char *filename,
+                                        bool backing_mask_protocol,
+                                        Error **errp)
 {
     BlockDriverState *parent = c->opaque;
     bool read_only = bdrv_is_read_only(parent);
     int ret;
+    const char *format_name;
     GLOBAL_STATE_CODE();
 
     if (read_only) {
@@ -1323,9 +1326,23 @@ static int bdrv_backing_update_filename(BdrvChild *c, BlockDriverState *base,
         }
     }
 
-    ret = bdrv_change_backing_file(parent, filename,
-                                   base->drv ? base->drv->format_name : "",
-                                   false);
+    if (base->drv) {
+        /*
+         * If the new base image doesn't have a format driver layer, which we
+         * detect by the fact that @base is a protocol driver, we record
+         * 'raw' as the format instead of putting the protocol name as the
+         * backing format
+         */
+        if (backing_mask_protocol && base->drv->protocol_name) {
+            format_name = "raw";
+        } else {
+            format_name = base->drv->format_name;
+        }
+    } else {
+        format_name = "";
+    }
+
+    ret = bdrv_change_backing_file(parent, filename, format_name, false);
     if (ret < 0) {
         error_setg_errno(errp, -ret, "Could not update backing file link");
     }
@@ -1479,10 +1496,14 @@ static void GRAPH_WRLOCK bdrv_child_cb_detach(BdrvChild *child)
 }
 
 static int bdrv_child_cb_update_filename(BdrvChild *c, BlockDriverState *base,
-                                         const char *filename, Error **errp)
+                                         const char *filename,
+                                         bool backing_mask_protocol,
+                                         Error **errp)
 {
     if (c->role & BDRV_CHILD_COW) {
-        return bdrv_backing_update_filename(c, base, filename, errp);
+        return bdrv_backing_update_filename(c, base, filename,
+                                            backing_mask_protocol,
+                                            errp);
     }
     return 0;
 }
@@ -5803,7 +5824,8 @@ void bdrv_unfreeze_backing_chain(BlockDriverState *bs, BlockDriverState *base)
  *
  */
 int bdrv_drop_intermediate(BlockDriverState *top, BlockDriverState *base,
-                           const char *backing_file_str)
+                           const char *backing_file_str,
+                           bool backing_mask_protocol)
 {
     BlockDriverState *explicit_top = top;
     bool update_inherits_from;
@@ -5869,6 +5891,7 @@ int bdrv_drop_intermediate(BlockDriverState *top, BlockDriverState *base,
 
         if (c->klass->update_filename) {
             ret = c->klass->update_filename(c, base, backing_file_str,
+                                            backing_mask_protocol,
                                             &local_err);
             if (ret < 0) {
                 /*
diff --git a/block/commit.c b/block/commit.c
index 1dd7a65ffb..7c3fdcb0ca 100644
--- a/block/commit.c
+++ b/block/commit.c
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ typedef struct CommitBlockJob {
     bool base_read_only;
     bool chain_frozen;
     char *backing_file_str;
+    bool backing_mask_protocol;
 } CommitBlockJob;
 
 static int commit_prepare(Job *job)
@@ -61,7 +62,8 @@ static int commit_prepare(Job *job)
     /* FIXME: bdrv_drop_intermediate treats total failures and partial failures
      * identically. Further work is needed to disambiguate these cases. */
     return bdrv_drop_intermediate(s->commit_top_bs, s->base_bs,
-                                  s->backing_file_str);
+                                  s->backing_file_str,
+                                  s->backing_mask_protocol);
 }
 
 static void commit_abort(Job *job)
@@ -254,6 +256,7 @@ void commit_start(const char *job_id, BlockDriverState *bs,
                   BlockDriverState *base, BlockDriverState *top,
                   int creation_flags, int64_t speed,
                   BlockdevOnError on_error, const char *backing_file_str,
+                  bool backing_mask_protocol,
                   const char *filter_node_name, Error **errp)
 {
     CommitBlockJob *s;
@@ -408,6 +411,7 @@ void commit_start(const char *job_id, BlockDriverState *bs,
     blk_set_disable_request_queuing(s->top, true);
 
     s->backing_file_str = g_strdup(backing_file_str);
+    s->backing_mask_protocol = backing_mask_protocol;
     s->on_error = on_error;
 
     trace_commit_start(bs, base, top, s);
diff --git a/blockdev.c b/blockdev.c
index 3a5e7222ec..292c8af3f9 100644
--- a/blockdev.c
+++ b/blockdev.c
@@ -2420,6 +2420,8 @@ void qmp_block_commit(const char *job_id, const char *device,
                       const char *top_node,
                       const char *top,
                       const char *backing_file,
+                      bool has_backing_mask_protocol,
+                      bool backing_mask_protocol,
                       bool has_speed, int64_t speed,
                       bool has_on_error, BlockdevOnError on_error,
                       const char *filter_node_name,
@@ -2450,6 +2452,9 @@ void qmp_block_commit(const char *job_id, const char *device,
     if (has_auto_dismiss && !auto_dismiss) {
         job_flags |= JOB_MANUAL_DISMISS;
     }
+    if (!has_backing_mask_protocol) {
+        backing_mask_protocol = false;
+    }
 
     /* Important Note:
      *  libvirt relies on the DeviceNotFound error class in order to probe for
@@ -2591,6 +2596,7 @@ void qmp_block_commit(const char *job_id, const char *device,
         }
         commit_start(job_id, bs, base_bs, top_bs, job_flags,
                      speed, on_error, backing_file,
+                     backing_mask_protocol,
                      filter_node_name, &local_err);
     }
     if (local_err != NULL) {
diff --git a/include/block/block-global-state.h b/include/block/block-global-state.h
index 4ec0b217f0..bd7cecd1cf 100644
--- a/include/block/block-global-state.h
+++ b/include/block/block-global-state.h
@@ -144,7 +144,8 @@ int GRAPH_RDLOCK bdrv_make_empty(BdrvChild *c, Error **errp);
 
 void bdrv_register(BlockDriver *bdrv);
 int bdrv_drop_intermediate(BlockDriverState *top, BlockDriverState *base,
-                           const char *backing_file_str);
+                           const char *backing_file_str,
+                           bool backing_mask_protocol);
 
 BlockDriverState * GRAPH_RDLOCK
 bdrv_find_overlay(BlockDriverState *active, BlockDriverState *bs);
diff --git a/include/block/block_int-common.h b/include/block/block_int-common.h
index 151279d481..761276127e 100644
--- a/include/block/block_int-common.h
+++ b/include/block/block_int-common.h
@@ -985,7 +985,9 @@ struct BdrvChildClass {
      * can update its reference.
      */
     int (*update_filename)(BdrvChild *child, BlockDriverState *new_base,
-                           const char *filename, Error **errp);
+                           const char *filename,
+                           bool backing_mask_protocol,
+                           Error **errp);
 
     bool (*change_aio_ctx)(BdrvChild *child, AioContext *ctx,
                            GHashTable *visited, Transaction *tran,
diff --git a/include/block/block_int-global-state.h b/include/block/block_int-global-state.h
index ef31c58bb3..2162269df6 100644
--- a/include/block/block_int-global-state.h
+++ b/include/block/block_int-global-state.h
@@ -82,6 +82,8 @@ void stream_start(const char *job_id, BlockDriverState *bs,
  * @speed: The maximum speed, in bytes per second, or 0 for unlimited.
  * @on_error: The action to take upon error.
  * @backing_file_str: String to use as the backing file in @top's overlay
+ * @backing_mask_protocol: Replace potential protocol name with 'raw' in
+ *                         'backing file format' header
  * @filter_node_name: The node name that should be assigned to the filter
  * driver that the commit job inserts into the graph above @top. NULL means
  * that a node name should be autogenerated.
@@ -92,6 +94,7 @@ void commit_start(const char *job_id, BlockDriverState *bs,
                   BlockDriverState *base, BlockDriverState *top,
                   int creation_flags, int64_t speed,
                   BlockdevOnError on_error, const char *backing_file_str,
+                  bool backing_mask_protocol,
                   const char *filter_node_name, Error **errp);
 /**
  * commit_active_start:
diff --git a/qapi/block-core.json b/qapi/block-core.json
index ca390c5700..726145ec8a 100644
--- a/qapi/block-core.json
+++ b/qapi/block-core.json
@@ -1810,6 +1810,11 @@
 #     Care should be taken when specifying the string, to specify a
 #     valid filename or protocol.  (Since 2.1)
 #
+# @backing-mask-protocol: If true, replace any protocol mentioned in the
+#     'backing file format' with 'raw', rather than storing the protocol
+#     name as the backing format.  Can be used even when no image header
+#     will be updated (default false; since 9.0).
+#
 # @speed: the maximum speed, in bytes per second
 #
 # @on-error: the action to take on an error.  'ignore' means that the
@@ -1856,7 +1861,8 @@
             '*base': { 'type': 'str', 'features': [ 'deprecated' ] },
             '*top-node': 'str',
             '*top': { 'type': 'str', 'features': [ 'deprecated' ] },
-            '*backing-file': 'str', '*speed': 'int',
+            '*backing-file': 'str', '*backing-mask-protocol': 'bool',
+            '*speed': 'int',
             '*on-error': 'BlockdevOnError',
             '*filter-node-name': 'str',
             '*auto-finalize': 'bool', '*auto-dismiss': 'bool' },
diff --git a/tests/unit/test-bdrv-drain.c b/tests/unit/test-bdrv-drain.c
index 17830a69c1..666880472b 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test-bdrv-drain.c
+++ b/tests/unit/test-bdrv-drain.c
@@ -1591,6 +1591,7 @@ static const BlockJobDriver test_simple_job_driver = {
 static int drop_intermediate_poll_update_filename(BdrvChild *child,
                                                   BlockDriverState *new_base,
                                                   const char *filename,
+                                                  bool backing_mask_protocol,
                                                   Error **errp)
 {
     /*
@@ -1702,7 +1703,7 @@ static void test_drop_intermediate_poll(void)
     job->should_complete = true;
 
     g_assert(!job_has_completed);
-    ret = bdrv_drop_intermediate(chain[1], chain[0], NULL);
+    ret = bdrv_drop_intermediate(chain[1], chain[0], NULL, false);
     aio_poll(qemu_get_aio_context(), false);
     g_assert(ret == 0);
     g_assert(job_has_completed);