diff --git a/doc/dwarfs.md b/doc/dwarfs.md
index 590c69ef0..b56c9acd9 100644
--- a/doc/dwarfs.md
+++ b/doc/dwarfs.md
@@ -66,6 +66,11 @@ options:
   This is only useful for images that have some header located
   before the actual filesystem data.
 
+- `-o imagesize=`*value*:
+  Explicitly set the size of the filesystem image in bytes,
+  starting from the offset. This can be used in cases where
+  the image is embedded in a larger file.
+
 - `-o mlock=none`|`try`|`must`:
   Set this to `try` or `must` instead of the default `none` to
   try or require `mlock()`ing of the file system metadata into
diff --git a/include/dwarfs/reader/filesystem_options.h b/include/dwarfs/reader/filesystem_options.h
index e1aa62516..a0fccc8b9 100644
--- a/include/dwarfs/reader/filesystem_options.h
+++ b/include/dwarfs/reader/filesystem_options.h
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
 
 #pragma once
 
+#include <limits>
+
 #include <dwarfs/reader/block_cache_options.h>
 #include <dwarfs/reader/inode_reader_options.h>
 #include <dwarfs/reader/metadata_options.h>
@@ -34,6 +36,7 @@ struct filesystem_options {
 
   mlock_mode lock_mode{mlock_mode::NONE};
   file_off_t image_offset{0};
+  file_off_t image_size{std::numeric_limits<file_off_t>::max()};
   block_cache_options block_cache{};
   metadata_options metadata{};
   inode_reader_options inode_reader{};
diff --git a/include/dwarfs/reader/internal/filesystem_parser.h b/include/dwarfs/reader/internal/filesystem_parser.h
index 007a70650..ed7a514f7 100644
--- a/include/dwarfs/reader/internal/filesystem_parser.h
+++ b/include/dwarfs/reader/internal/filesystem_parser.h
@@ -45,8 +45,9 @@ class filesystem_parser {
  public:
   static file_off_t find_image_offset(mmif& mm, file_off_t image_offset);
 
-  explicit filesystem_parser(std::shared_ptr<mmif> mm,
-                             file_off_t image_offset = 0);
+  explicit filesystem_parser(
+      std::shared_ptr<mmif> mm, file_off_t image_offset = 0,
+      file_off_t image_size = std::numeric_limits<file_off_t>::max());
 
   std::optional<dwarfs::internal::fs_section> next_section();
 
@@ -74,6 +75,7 @@ class filesystem_parser {
 
   std::shared_ptr<mmif> mm_;
   file_off_t const image_offset_{0};
+  file_off_t const image_size_{std::numeric_limits<file_off_t>::max()};
   file_off_t offset_{0};
   int version_{0};
   uint8_t major_{0};
diff --git a/src/reader/filesystem_v2.cpp b/src/reader/filesystem_v2.cpp
index e3f2bac83..fe957b8ee 100644
--- a/src/reader/filesystem_v2.cpp
+++ b/src/reader/filesystem_v2.cpp
@@ -308,7 +308,8 @@ class filesystem_ final : public filesystem_v2::impl {
     return meta_.get_all_gids();
   }
   std::shared_ptr<filesystem_parser> get_parser() const override {
-    return std::make_unique<filesystem_parser>(mm_, image_offset_);
+    return std::make_unique<filesystem_parser>(mm_, image_offset_,
+                                               options_.image_size);
   }
   std::optional<std::string>
   get_block_category(size_t block_no) const override {
@@ -341,6 +342,7 @@ class filesystem_ final : public filesystem_v2::impl {
   mutable std::unique_ptr<filesystem_info const> fsinfo_;
   history history_;
   file_off_t const image_offset_;
+  filesystem_options const options_;
   PERFMON_CLS_PROXY_DECL
   PERFMON_CLS_TIMER_DECL(find_path)
   PERFMON_CLS_TIMER_DECL(find_inode)
@@ -380,7 +382,7 @@ filesystem_<LoggerPolicy>::get_info(fsinfo_options const& opts) const {
   std::lock_guard lock(mx_);
 
   if (!fsinfo_ || opts.block_access > fsinfo_block_access_level_) {
-    filesystem_parser parser(mm_, image_offset_);
+    filesystem_parser parser(mm_, image_offset_, options_.image_size);
     filesystem_info info;
 
     parser.rewind();
@@ -429,14 +431,15 @@ filesystem_<LoggerPolicy>::get_info(fsinfo_options const& opts) const {
 template <typename LoggerPolicy>
 filesystem_<LoggerPolicy>::filesystem_(
     logger& lgr, os_access const& os, std::shared_ptr<mmif> mm,
-    const filesystem_options& options,
+    filesystem_options const& options,
     std::shared_ptr<performance_monitor const> perfmon)
     : LOG_PROXY_INIT(lgr)
     , os_{os}
     , mm_{std::move(mm)}
     , history_({.with_timestamps = true})
-    , image_offset_{filesystem_parser::find_image_offset(
-          *mm_, options.image_offset)} // clang-format off
+    , image_offset_{filesystem_parser::find_image_offset(*mm_,
+                                                         options.image_offset)}
+    , options_{options} // clang-format off
     PERFMON_CLS_PROXY_INIT(perfmon, "filesystem_v2")
     PERFMON_CLS_TIMER_INIT(find_path)
     PERFMON_CLS_TIMER_INIT(find_inode)
@@ -465,7 +468,7 @@ filesystem_<LoggerPolicy>::filesystem_(
     PERFMON_CLS_TIMER_INIT(readv_future_ec) // clang-format on
 {
   block_cache cache(lgr, os_, mm_, options.block_cache, perfmon);
-  filesystem_parser parser(mm_, image_offset_);
+  filesystem_parser parser(mm_, image_offset_, options.image_size);
 
   if (parser.has_index()) {
     LOG_DEBUG << "found valid section index";
@@ -531,7 +534,7 @@ filesystem_<LoggerPolicy>::filesystem_(
 template <typename LoggerPolicy>
 int filesystem_<LoggerPolicy>::check(filesystem_check_level level,
                                      size_t num_threads) const {
-  filesystem_parser parser(mm_, image_offset_);
+  filesystem_parser parser(mm_, image_offset_, options_.image_size);
 
   worker_group wg(LOG_GET_LOGGER, os_, "fscheck", num_threads);
   std::vector<std::future<fs_section>> sections;
@@ -593,7 +596,7 @@ int filesystem_<LoggerPolicy>::check(filesystem_check_level level,
 template <typename LoggerPolicy>
 void filesystem_<LoggerPolicy>::dump(std::ostream& os,
                                      fsinfo_options const& opts) const {
-  filesystem_parser parser(mm_, image_offset_);
+  filesystem_parser parser(mm_, image_offset_, options_.image_size);
 
   if (opts.features.has(fsinfo_feature::version)) {
     os << "DwarFS version " << parser.version();
@@ -662,7 +665,7 @@ std::string filesystem_<LoggerPolicy>::dump(fsinfo_options const& opts) const {
 template <typename LoggerPolicy>
 nlohmann::json
 filesystem_<LoggerPolicy>::info_as_json(fsinfo_options const& opts) const {
-  filesystem_parser parser(mm_, image_offset_);
+  filesystem_parser parser(mm_, image_offset_, options_.image_size);
 
   auto info = nlohmann::json::object();
 
diff --git a/src/reader/internal/filesystem_parser.cpp b/src/reader/internal/filesystem_parser.cpp
index 787431e33..2167b8d13 100644
--- a/src/reader/internal/filesystem_parser.cpp
+++ b/src/reader/internal/filesystem_parser.cpp
@@ -109,10 +109,13 @@ filesystem_parser::find_image_offset(mmif& mm, file_off_t image_offset) {
 }
 
 filesystem_parser::filesystem_parser(std::shared_ptr<mmif> mm,
-                                     file_off_t image_offset)
+                                     file_off_t image_offset,
+                                     file_off_t image_size)
     : mm_{std::move(mm)}
-    , image_offset_{find_image_offset(*mm_, image_offset)} {
-  if (mm_->size() < image_offset_ + sizeof(file_header)) {
+    , image_offset_{find_image_offset(*mm_, image_offset)}
+    , image_size_{
+          std::min<file_off_t>(image_size, mm_->size() - image_offset_)} {
+  if (image_size_ < static_cast<file_off_t>(sizeof(file_header))) {
     DWARFS_THROW(runtime_error, "file too small");
   }
 
@@ -143,7 +146,7 @@ filesystem_parser::filesystem_parser(std::shared_ptr<mmif> mm,
 
 std::optional<fs_section> filesystem_parser::next_section() {
   if (index_.empty()) {
-    if (offset_ < static_cast<file_off_t>(mm_->size())) {
+    if (offset_ < image_offset_ + image_size_) {
       auto section = fs_section(*mm_, offset_, version_);
       offset_ = section.end();
       return section;
@@ -154,7 +157,7 @@ std::optional<fs_section> filesystem_parser::next_section() {
       uint64_t offset = id & section_offset_mask;
       uint64_t next_offset = offset_ < static_cast<file_off_t>(index_.size())
                                  ? index_[offset_] & section_offset_mask
-                                 : mm_->size() - image_offset_;
+                                 : image_size_;
       return fs_section(mm_, static_cast<section_type>(id >> 48),
                         image_offset_ + offset, next_offset - offset, version_);
     }
@@ -189,7 +192,9 @@ bool filesystem_parser::has_checksums() const { return version_ >= 2; }
 
 bool filesystem_parser::has_index() const { return !index_.empty(); }
 
-size_t filesystem_parser::filesystem_size() const { return mm_->size(); }
+size_t filesystem_parser::filesystem_size() const {
+  return image_offset_ + image_size_;
+}
 
 std::span<uint8_t const>
 filesystem_parser::section_data(fs_section const& s) const {
@@ -199,14 +204,15 @@ filesystem_parser::section_data(fs_section const& s) const {
 void filesystem_parser::find_index() {
   uint64_t index_pos;
 
-  ::memcpy(&index_pos, mm_->as<void>(mm_->size() - sizeof(uint64_t)),
+  ::memcpy(&index_pos,
+           mm_->as<void>(image_offset_ + image_size_ - sizeof(uint64_t)),
            sizeof(uint64_t));
 
   if ((index_pos >> 48) == static_cast<uint16_t>(section_type::SECTION_INDEX)) {
     index_pos &= section_offset_mask;
     index_pos += image_offset_;
 
-    if (index_pos < mm_->size()) {
+    if (index_pos < static_cast<uint64_t>(image_offset_ + image_size_)) {
       auto section = fs_section(*mm_, index_pos, version_);
 
       if (section.check_fast(*mm_)) {
diff --git a/test/dwarfs_test.cpp b/test/dwarfs_test.cpp
index 6a16b5902..182b1e183 100644
--- a/test/dwarfs_test.cpp
+++ b/test/dwarfs_test.cpp
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
 #include <dwarfs/vfs_stat.h>
 #include <dwarfs/writer/entry_factory.h>
 #include <dwarfs/writer/filesystem_writer.h>
+#include <dwarfs/writer/filesystem_writer_options.h>
 #include <dwarfs/writer/filter_debug.h>
 #include <dwarfs/writer/fragment_order_options.h>
 #include <dwarfs/writer/rule_based_entry_filter.h>
@@ -81,6 +82,8 @@ build_dwarfs(logger& lgr, std::shared_ptr<test::os_access_mock> input,
              std::string const& compression,
              writer::segmenter::config const& cfg = writer::segmenter::config(),
              writer::scanner_options const& options = writer::scanner_options(),
+             writer::filesystem_writer_options const& writer_opts =
+                 writer::filesystem_writer_options(),
              writer::writer_progress* prog = nullptr,
              std::shared_ptr<test::filter_transformer_data> ftd = nullptr,
              std::optional<std::span<std::filesystem::path const>> input_list =
@@ -120,7 +123,7 @@ build_dwarfs(logger& lgr, std::shared_ptr<test::os_access_mock> input,
   std::ostringstream oss;
 
   block_compressor bc(compression);
-  writer::filesystem_writer fsw(oss, lgr, pool, *prog);
+  writer::filesystem_writer fsw(oss, lgr, pool, *prog, writer_opts);
   fsw.add_default_compressor(bc);
 
   s.scan(fsw, std::filesystem::path("/"), *prog, input_list);
@@ -187,7 +190,7 @@ void basic_end_to_end_test(
   auto ftd = std::make_shared<test::filter_transformer_data>();
 
   auto fsimage =
-      build_dwarfs(lgr, input, compressor, cfg, options, &wprog, ftd);
+      build_dwarfs(lgr, input, compressor, cfg, options, {}, &wprog, ftd);
 
   EXPECT_EQ(14, ftd->filter_calls.size());
   EXPECT_EQ(15, ftd->transform_calls.size());
@@ -1046,7 +1049,7 @@ TEST_P(filter_test, filesystem) {
   writer::scanner_options options;
   options.remove_empty_dirs = true;
 
-  auto fsimage = build_dwarfs(lgr, input, "null", cfg, options, nullptr,
+  auto fsimage = build_dwarfs(lgr, input, "null", cfg, options, {}, nullptr,
                               nullptr, std::nullopt, std::move(rbf));
 
   auto mm = std::make_shared<test::mmap_mock>(std::move(fsimage));
@@ -1136,8 +1139,8 @@ TEST(file_scanner, input_list) {
       "foo.pl",
   };
 
-  auto fsimage = build_dwarfs(lgr, input, "null", bmcfg, opts, nullptr, nullptr,
-                              input_list);
+  auto fsimage = build_dwarfs(lgr, input, "null", bmcfg, opts, {}, nullptr,
+                              nullptr, input_list);
 
   auto mm = std::make_shared<test::mmap_mock>(std::move(fsimage));
 
@@ -1926,3 +1929,73 @@ TEST(filesystem, inode_size_cache) {
     EXPECT_EQ(st.size(), size);
   }
 }
+
+TEST(filesystem, multi_image) {
+  test::test_logger lgr;
+  std::string data("header");
+  std::vector<std::pair<file_off_t, file_off_t>> images;
+
+  for (std::string str : {"foo", "bar", "baz"}) {
+    auto input = std::make_shared<test::os_access_mock>();
+    input->add_dir("");
+    input->add_file(str, str);
+    auto img = build_dwarfs(lgr, input, "null", {}, {},
+                            {.no_section_index = str == "bar"});
+    images.emplace_back(data.size(), img.size());
+    data += img;
+    data += "filler";
+  }
+
+  auto mm = std::make_shared<test::mmap_mock>(std::move(data));
+  auto os = std::make_shared<test::os_access_mock>();
+
+  std::vector<reader::filesystem_v2> fss;
+
+  for (size_t i = 0; i < images.size(); ++i) {
+    fss.emplace_back(
+        lgr, *os, mm,
+        reader::filesystem_options{.image_offset = images[i].first,
+                                   .image_size = images[i].second});
+  }
+
+  ASSERT_EQ(3, fss.size());
+
+  {
+    auto& fs = fss[0];
+    auto foo = fs.find("/foo");
+    auto bar = fs.find("/bar");
+    auto baz = fs.find("/baz");
+
+    ASSERT_TRUE(foo);
+    EXPECT_FALSE(bar);
+    EXPECT_FALSE(baz);
+
+    EXPECT_EQ("foo", fs.read_string(fs.open(foo->inode())));
+  }
+
+  {
+    auto& fs = fss[1];
+    auto foo = fs.find("/foo");
+    auto bar = fs.find("/bar");
+    auto baz = fs.find("/baz");
+
+    EXPECT_FALSE(foo);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(bar);
+    EXPECT_FALSE(baz);
+
+    EXPECT_EQ("bar", fs.read_string(fs.open(bar->inode())));
+  }
+
+  {
+    auto& fs = fss[2];
+    auto foo = fs.find("/foo");
+    auto bar = fs.find("/bar");
+    auto baz = fs.find("/baz");
+
+    EXPECT_FALSE(foo);
+    EXPECT_FALSE(bar);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(baz);
+
+    EXPECT_EQ("baz", fs.read_string(fs.open(baz->inode())));
+  }
+}
diff --git a/tools/src/dwarfs_main.cpp b/tools/src/dwarfs_main.cpp
index 6c822ea50..fc9f09c39 100644
--- a/tools/src/dwarfs_main.cpp
+++ b/tools/src/dwarfs_main.cpp
@@ -164,6 +164,7 @@ struct options {
   char const* mlock_str{nullptr};               // TODO: const?? -> use string?
   char const* decompress_ratio_str{nullptr};    // TODO: const?? -> use string?
   char const* image_offset_str{nullptr};        // TODO: const?? -> use string?
+  char const* image_size_str{nullptr};          // TODO: const?? -> use string?
   char const* cache_tidy_strategy_str{nullptr}; // TODO: const?? -> use string?
   char const* cache_tidy_interval_str{nullptr}; // TODO: const?? -> use string?
   char const* cache_tidy_max_age_str{nullptr};  // TODO: const?? -> use string?
@@ -238,6 +239,7 @@ constexpr struct ::fuse_opt dwarfs_opts[] = {
     DWARFS_OPT("mlock=%s", mlock_str, 0),
     DWARFS_OPT("decratio=%s", decompress_ratio_str, 0),
     DWARFS_OPT("offset=%s", image_offset_str, 0),
+    DWARFS_OPT("imagesize=%s", image_size_str, 0),
     DWARFS_OPT("tidy_strategy=%s", cache_tidy_strategy_str, 0),
     DWARFS_OPT("tidy_interval=%s", cache_tidy_interval_str, 0),
     DWARFS_OPT("tidy_max_age=%s", cache_tidy_max_age_str, 0),
@@ -1203,6 +1205,7 @@ void usage(std::ostream& os, std::filesystem::path const& progname) {
      << "    -o mlock=NAME          mlock mode: (none), try, must\n"
      << "    -o decratio=NUM        ratio for full decompression (0.8)\n"
      << "    -o offset=NUM|auto     filesystem image offset in bytes (0)\n"
+     << "    -o imagesize=NUM       filesystem image size in bytes\n"
      << "    -o enable_nlink        show correct hardlink numbers\n"
      << "    -o readonly            show read-only file system\n"
      << "    -o (no_)cache_image    (don't) keep image in kernel cache\n"
@@ -1451,6 +1454,10 @@ void load_filesystem(dwarfs_userdata& userdata) {
     fsopts.image_offset = reader::parse_image_offset(opts.image_offset_str);
   }
 
+  if (opts.image_size_str) {
+    fsopts.image_size = to<file_off_t>(opts.image_size_str);
+  }
+
   std::unordered_set<std::string> perfmon_enabled;
   std::optional<std::filesystem::path> perfmon_trace_file;
 #if DWARFS_PERFMON_ENABLED