diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index b67fd7cc..589bda54 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ Changelog
 
 version 1.10.0-dev
 ------------------
++ Make ``isal_zlib.Compress.flush()`` return ``b""`` for ``Z_SYNC_FLUSH``
+  when nothing was compressed since a sync or full flush, and for
+  ``Z_FULL_FLUSH`` when nothing was compressed since a full flush, as zlib
+  does. It wrote an empty block of 6 bytes, or 117 bytes at level 0. On
+  Linux, such a flush is now 20 times faster at levels 1 to 3. Flushing an
+  ``igzip`` file again without a write in between no longer grows the file
+  and is 4 times faster.
 + Fix ``python -m isal.igzip`` replacing the input file with empty output and
   exiting with status 0 when the output file is the input file, as in
   ``-f -o data data``. It exits with an error now.
diff --git a/src/isal/isal_zlibmodule.c b/src/isal/isal_zlibmodule.c
index 3ee12d83..b6eecfbf 100644
--- a/src/isal/isal_zlibmodule.c
+++ b/src/isal/isal_zlibmodule.c
@@ -584,6 +584,8 @@ typedef struct
     PyObject *zdict;
     struct isal_zlib_header zlib_header;
     int is_initialised;
+    /* Mode of the last flush; Z_NO_FLUSH after compress() or Z_FINISH. */
+    int last_flush;
     PyThread_type_lock lock;
     // isal_zstream should be at the bottom as it contains buffers inside the struct.
     struct isal_zstream zst;
@@ -609,6 +611,7 @@ newcompobject()
     if (self == NULL)
         return NULL;
     self->is_initialised = 0;
+    self->last_flush = Z_NO_FLUSH;
     self->zdict = NULL;
     self->zlib_header.dict_flag = 0;
     self->level_buf = NULL;
@@ -898,6 +901,8 @@ isal_zlib_Compress_compress_impl(compobject *self, Py_buffer *data)
 
     ENTER_ZLIB(self);
 
+    /* Also for b"", as in zlib: permessage-deflate needs the sync marker. */
+    self->last_flush = Z_NO_FLUSH;
     self->zst.next_in = data->buf;
     ibuflen = data->len;
 
@@ -1117,6 +1122,13 @@ isal_zlib_Compress_flush_impl(compobject *self, int mode)
     
     ENTER_ZLIB(self);
 
+    /* As in zlib, skip the empty block after an equal or stronger flush. */
+    if ((mode == Z_SYNC_FLUSH || mode == Z_FULL_FLUSH) &&
+            self->last_flush >= mode) {
+        LEAVE_ZLIB(self);
+        return PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(NULL, 0);
+    }
+
     if (mode == Z_FINISH) {
         self->zst.flush = FULL_FLUSH;
         self->zst.end_of_stream = 1;
@@ -1167,9 +1179,11 @@ isal_zlib_Compress_flush_impl(compobject *self, int mode)
         self->zst.level_buf_size = 0;
         self->zst.level_buf = NULL;
         self->is_initialised = 0;
+        self->last_flush = Z_NO_FLUSH;
     } else {
         // reset the flush mode back so compressobject can be used again.
         self->zst.flush = NO_FLUSH;
+        self->last_flush = mode;
     }
 
     if (_PyBytes_Resize(&RetVal, self->zst.next_out -
diff --git a/tests/test_compat.py b/tests/test_compat.py
index 3f339851..4db3765c 100644
--- a/tests/test_compat.py
+++ b/tests/test_compat.py
@@ -174,6 +174,63 @@ def test_compressobj_level_0_flush_after_finish():
     assert zlib.decompress(compressed) == b"data"
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("level", range(4))
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("wbits", [-15, 15, 31])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(["first_mode", "second_mode"],
+                         [(isal_zlib.Z_SYNC_FLUSH, isal_zlib.Z_SYNC_FLUSH),
+                          (isal_zlib.Z_FULL_FLUSH, isal_zlib.Z_FULL_FLUSH),
+                          (isal_zlib.Z_FULL_FLUSH, isal_zlib.Z_SYNC_FLUSH)])
+def test_compressobj_repeated_flush(level, wbits, first_mode, second_mode):
+    compressor = isal_zlib.compressobj(level, wbits=wbits)
+    decompressor = zlib.decompressobj(wbits=wbits)
+    compressed = (compressor.compress(DATA[:4096]) +
+                  compressor.flush(first_mode))
+    assert compressed.endswith(b"\x00\x00\xff\xff")
+    assert decompressor.decompress(compressed) == DATA[:4096]
+    assert compressor.flush(second_mode) == b""
+    assert compressor.flush(second_mode) == b""
+    compressed = compressor.compress(DATA[4096:8192]) + compressor.flush()
+    assert decompressor.decompress(compressed) == DATA[4096:8192]
+    assert decompressor.eof
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("level", range(4))
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("wbits", [-15, 15, 31])
+def test_compressobj_repeated_flush_before_data(level, wbits):
+    compressor = isal_zlib.compressobj(level, wbits=wbits)
+    compressed = compressor.flush(isal_zlib.Z_SYNC_FLUSH)
+    assert compressed.endswith(b"\x00\x00\xff\xff")
+    assert compressor.flush(isal_zlib.Z_SYNC_FLUSH) == b""
+    compressed += compressor.compress(DATA[:4096]) + compressor.flush()
+    assert zlib.decompress(compressed, wbits=wbits) == DATA[:4096]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("level", range(4))
+def test_compressobj_full_flush_after_sync_flush(level):
+    compressor = isal_zlib.compressobj(level, wbits=-15)
+    compressor.compress(DATA[:4096])
+    compressor.flush(isal_zlib.Z_SYNC_FLUSH)
+    # A full flush after a sync flush still resets the history.
+    assert compressor.flush(isal_zlib.Z_FULL_FLUSH).endswith(
+        b"\x00\x00\xff\xff")
+    compressed = compressor.compress(DATA[:4096]) + compressor.flush()
+    assert zlib.decompress(compressed, wbits=-15) == DATA[:4096]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("level", range(4))
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("flush_mode", [isal_zlib.Z_SYNC_FLUSH,
+                                        isal_zlib.Z_FULL_FLUSH])
+def test_compressobj_flush_after_empty_compress(level, flush_mode):
+    # permessage-deflate (RFC 7692) needs 00 00 ff ff after empty messages.
+    compressor = isal_zlib.compressobj(level, wbits=-15)
+    decompressor = zlib.decompressobj(wbits=-15)
+    for message in [b"hello", b"", b"", DATA[:4096], b""]:
+        compressed = (compressor.compress(message) +
+                      compressor.flush(flush_mode))
+        assert compressed.endswith(b"\x00\x00\xff\xff")
+        assert decompressor.decompress(compressed) == message
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("flush_mode", [isal_zlib.Z_SYNC_FLUSH,
                                         isal_zlib.Z_FULL_FLUSH])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(["strategy", "btype"],
diff --git a/tests/test_dictionary_header.py b/tests/test_dictionary_header.py
index 028b88c7..c2adbd1a 100644
--- a/tests/test_dictionary_header.py
+++ b/tests/test_dictionary_header.py
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('wbits', [9, 15, -15])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('dictionary_size', [11, 32768, 40000])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-    'first_operation', ['compress', 'empty', 'sync', 'finish'])
+    'first_operation',
+    ['compress', 'empty', 'sync', 'repeated sync', 'finish'])
 def test_dictionary_cross_decode(level, wbits, dictionary_size,
                                  first_operation):
     dictionary = random.Random(21).randbytes(dictionary_size)
@@ -22,6 +23,9 @@ def test_dictionary_cross_decode(level, wbits, dictionary_size,
         packed += compressor.compress(b'')
     elif first_operation == 'sync':
         packed += compressor.flush(isal_zlib.Z_SYNC_FLUSH)
+    elif first_operation == 'repeated sync':
+        packed += compressor.flush(isal_zlib.Z_SYNC_FLUSH)
+        assert compressor.flush(isal_zlib.Z_SYNC_FLUSH) == b''
     elif first_operation == 'finish':
         data = b''
     for pos in range(0, len(data), 17):
diff --git a/tests/test_igzip.py b/tests/test_igzip.py
index 1c691c2b..1b25284b 100644
--- a/tests/test_igzip.py
+++ b/tests/test_igzip.py
@@ -795,6 +795,19 @@ def test_small_writes_tell_and_flush():
     assert gzip.decompress(output.getvalue()) == b"abcdefgh"
 
 
+def test_repeated_flush_writes_nothing():
+    output = io.BytesIO()
+    with igzip.IGzipFile(fileobj=output, mode="wb") as gzip_file:
+        gzip_file.write(b"abc")
+        gzip_file.flush()
+        size = len(output.getvalue())
+        gzip_file.flush()
+        assert len(output.getvalue()) == size
+        gzip_file.write(b"def")
+        gzip_file.flush()
+    assert gzip.decompress(output.getvalue()) == b"abcdef"
+
+
 @pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform != "linux", reason="bash required")
 def test_no_broken_pipe():
     subprocess.run(