diff --git a/arch-template.json b/arch-template.json
index a34799a..ff74f8b 100644
--- a/arch-template.json
+++ b/arch-template.json
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
         "iso_checksum_url": "https://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/iso/{{isotime \"2006.01\"}}.01/sha1sums.txt",
         "ssh_timeout": "20m",
         "country": "US",
+        "write_zeros": "true",
         "headless": "false"
     },
     "builders": [
@@ -124,7 +125,7 @@
         },
         {
             "type": "shell",
-            "execute_command": "{{ .Vars }} sudo -E -S bash '{{ .Path }}'",
+            "execute_command": "{{ .Vars }} WRITE_ZEROS={{ user `write_zeros` }} sudo -E -S bash '{{ .Path }}'",
             "script": "scripts/cleanup.sh"
         }
     ],
diff --git a/scripts/cleanup.sh b/scripts/cleanup.sh
index 7227397..967c505 100755
--- a/scripts/cleanup.sh
+++ b/scripts/cleanup.sh
@@ -5,8 +5,10 @@ echo ">>>> cleanup.sh: Cleaning pacman cache.."
 /usr/bin/pacman -Scc --noconfirm
 
 # Write zeros to improve virtual disk compaction.
-echo ">>>> cleanup.sh: Writing zeros to improve virtual disk compaction.."
-zerofile=$(/usr/bin/mktemp /zerofile.XXXXX)
-/usr/bin/dd if=/dev/zero of="$zerofile" bs=1M
-/usr/bin/rm -f "$zerofile"
-/usr/bin/sync
+if [[ $WRITE_ZEROS == "true" ]]; then
+  echo ">>>> cleanup.sh: Writing zeros to improve virtual disk compaction.."
+  zerofile=$(/usr/bin/mktemp /zerofile.XXXXX)
+  /usr/bin/dd if=/dev/zero of="$zerofile" bs=1M
+  /usr/bin/rm -f "$zerofile"
+  /usr/bin/sync
+fi
diff --git a/wrapacker b/wrapacker
index 23e50f2..6ae77a5 100755
--- a/wrapacker
+++ b/wrapacker
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ validate_country() {
 # print this script's usage message to stderr
 usage() {
   cat <<-EOF >&2
-  usage: wrapacker [-c COUNTRY] [-p PROVIDER] [-t TIMEOUT] [-o ON-ERROR ACTION] [-f] [-d] [-h]
+  usage: wrapacker [-c COUNTRY] [-p PROVIDER] [-t TIMEOUT] [-w] [-o ON-ERROR ACTION] [-f] [-d] [-h]
 EOF
 }
 
@@ -129,6 +129,9 @@ help() {
               sets the amount of time packer will wait for trying ssh login;
               defaults to 20m
 
+       -w, --skip-write-zeros
+              don't inflate the disk to improve virtual disk compaction
+
        -o, --on-error=ACTION
               error handling if the build fails;
               defaults to cleanup
@@ -165,6 +168,7 @@ country=''
 provider=''
 dry_run=false
 timeout=''
+skip_write_zeros=false
 on_error=''
 force=false
 headless=false
@@ -193,6 +197,9 @@ while [[ $1 != '' ]]; do
     --timeout=*)
       timeout=${1#*=}
       ;;
+    -w | --skip-write-zeros)
+      skip_write_zeros=true
+      ;;
     -o | --on-error)
       on_error=$2
       shift
@@ -288,6 +295,12 @@ else
   SSH_TIMEOUT='20m'
 fi
 
+if [[ $skip_write_zeros = true ]]; then
+  WRITE_ZEROS="false"
+else
+  WRITE_ZEROS="true"
+fi
+
 if [[ $on_error ]]; then
   case $(echo "$on_error" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]') in
     cleanup)
@@ -320,6 +333,7 @@ cat <<-EOF
     -var "ssh_timeout=$SSH_TIMEOUT" \\
     -var "country=$country" \\
     -var "headless=$headless" \\
+    -var "write_zeros=$WRITE_ZEROS" \\
     -on-error=$ON_ERROR \\
     -force \\
     arch-template.json
@@ -333,6 +347,7 @@ cat <<-EOF
     -var "ssh_timeout=$SSH_TIMEOUT" \\
     -var "country=$country" \\
     -var "headless=$headless" \\
+    -var "write_zeros=$WRITE_ZEROS" \\
     -on-error=$ON_ERROR \\
     arch-template.json
 EOF
@@ -346,6 +361,7 @@ else
       -var "ssh_timeout=$SSH_TIMEOUT" \
       -var "country=$country" \
       -var "headless=$headless" \
+      -var "write_zeros=$WRITE_ZEROS" \
       -on-error=$ON_ERROR \
       -force \
       arch-template.json
@@ -357,6 +373,7 @@ else
       -var "ssh_timeout=$SSH_TIMEOUT" \
       -var "country=$country" \
       -var "headless=$headless" \
+      -var "write_zeros=$WRITE_ZEROS" \
       -on-error=$ON_ERROR \
       arch-template.json
   fi